Jealousy
by EverythingMath
Summary: Julchen breezes through life, happily hating Francine. She's content with her life and doesn't believe in magic. But through some really unusual circumstances, all of those things are about to be turned upside down. Will she ever have a normal life? (the answer is no, so far.)
1. A Picture of Three Women

**Hi. It's EverythingMath here, with something kind of interesting.**

 **First off, I don't really write for Hetalia Fanfic anymore. It's very likely that other than one or two updates on Headcanons, this will be my last story.**

 **Second, might as well go out with a bang! THIS STORY HAS 16 CHAPTERS! It's a first for me.**

 **Third, I wrote the story out in full,and finished a few months ago. I'm posting this before I loose any affection I had for this piece. This means I can promise that I won't be late on an update and this will be seen through to its finish. :)**

 **Anyway, I never meant for Jealousy (originally titled A Picture Of Three Women) to extend past one-shot, but here you go. You're lucky, I guess. :)**

 **Happy reading! ~Em**

Jealousy

Chapter one

A Picture of Three Women

Let me paint you a picture of three women. The first stands tall, hip cocked, arms crossed over her chest. She's not as feminine as the girl to her left, but she has a nice figure and long, toned legs. Her silver hair cascades over her shoulder. Her skin is pale. Her eyes? Red. You can tell she works out, and she's wearing a tight white miniskirt and top. It is trimmed in black, with black designs: a Prussian eagle spreads its wings on her chest.

The second girl, on her left, is bent forward, a playful smile on her face. Her hand touches her lips; she's blowing a kiss to the camera. She has a perfect figure, and did her makeup to look pretty but natural. She is blonde, blue eyes, everything about her from the clothes to the kiss screams 'French'. She wears a form fitting blue dress with buttons; it flows to her knees and she has bright red leggings underneath.

The third girl has a less defined hourglass figure. However, she's tan, beautiful green eyes, and she's got this 'pretty without trying' look. She doesn't wear a skirt. Instead, she has tan pants and a flowing green top. She's standing in an easy pose and has the most cheerful smile a girl can possibly have.

This is the Bad Touch Trio. Julchen, Francine, and Cheyenne.

And this picture was in Natalya's future-seeing mirror.

Natalya, her brother Ivan, and her sister Natasha were all magic users. The mirror was something that Natalya peered into from time to time. An elderly witch had given it to her a while ago, for a few coins.

Right now, Natalya stared at the mirror in anger and jealousy. These girls, she knew, lived a life she and her family never would have had.

The sisters had never had someone to love, as Natalya's strangeness and Natasha's ugliness drove everyone away. It was enough, when she looked at this picture, to cause her to turn to her brother for a spell. If Natalya couldn't have love, these girls wouldn't either.

"Ivan?"

Ivan appeared in the doorway, presently.

"Please, will you perform a curse for me?"

"Of course! Who for?"

"Them." Natalya gestured to the mirror. "Anything you want, so long as it causes them to live a life without love."

"I will make their kisses burn like freezing snow," Ivan decided, casting the curse.

She has her reasons, Ivan supposed.

++This line break is brought to you by Flying Mint Bunny++

Now, to said women.

Julchen Bielschmidt was twelve. She was faster and stronger than most of the guys, and albino, and proud of it. She was the one to stare at as she walked down the hall. She was the one who, when kids were asked about her, they answered "Oh, that's Julchen" in a condescending tone to hide their jealousy.

She didn't mind. She didn't want a boyfriend, as many girls seemed to. She looked down on middle school relationships. And she didn't need a friend.

There was one girl she hated. The girl was her opposite: mundane grades, mundane fitness, and a flirty French attitude. That girl, Francine, had had two boyfriends. Two! She was TWELVE!

French. What a joke. German is a respectable language, and if her classmates didn't like her speaking in German, well they could-

"Julchen!" her inner West said. She thought of her conscience or whatever it's called as West because he was more sensible. "No bad words. Be more creative with your insults."

West, a nickname for Ludwig (long story), was her younger brother. Usually a control freak, he had learned English, German, and Julchenish at a young age. See, ordering Julchen around doesn't work, but the girl likes a challenge!

Anyway, back on topic. Julchen ran home, as always. On the way, she got one of those sudden chills, but it went away and she paid no attention.

"WEST! I'm home!" she yelled in German, crashing through the door. "Anything happen today?"

"We ran out of eggs," he replied in the same language.

"Great. That means I have to go to the store to get some."

The rest of the day was spent with homework, dinner, and an amazing game of Peanuts.

+break+

Francine Bonnefoy hated Julchen with a passion. There weren't many people she hated, but that girl just grated on her nerves. The harsh accent, the full-of-herself attitude, and the way she always seemed to pick fights was just- ugh.

In Francine's opinion, her French accent was beautiful. Yes, French is more refined, just like her.

A lot of boys adored her accent. She knew how to be charming, she knew what to say. Now, isn't she a picture of a young lady?

Some people, she knew, disapproved of middle school relationships. She wasn't really in a relationship, she thought. A tiny kiss was a normal greeting, for goodness sake!

Francine huffed and walked home, picking a delicate flower along the way. She twirled it in her elegant fingers. When she reached home, her mama was there.

"Maman!"

"Bonjour, Francine!"

Her mother helped her with homework until dinner. Dinner was delicious French food made by Francine's mama, a cook; and Francine herself. She was on her way to being a world renown cook like mama. Okay, the world renown part was a slight exaggeration, but only slight.

After dinner, Francine practiced her violin for a while.

+break+

Cheyenne Carrideo loved the tomatoes that grew around her house. She ate the beautiful red fruits whole, juice spilling down her chin. Of course, she was a pretty good cook as well and could make amazing Spanish food, with lots of tomatoes, of course.

Cheyenne had three younger sisters and a younger brother named Jocelyn, Susanne, Stella, and Jacob respectively. On cue, they all arrived home from elementary school, demanding to know what was for dinner.

"Calm! Calm! You will not starve!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Here."

She served the food, and it was gone in a flash. All five of them had sizeable appetites. Unfortunately, that meant Mom and Dad were stuck with leftovers.

When Cheyenne's parents did finally come home, they sighed at the children's appetites, but didn't complain when their eldest daughter washed the dishes. Cheyenne's evening was spent doing homework, helping with her siblings' homework, and entertaining the youngsters with a game of tag.

Cheyenne couldn't care less about the existence of a girl named Julchen and a girl named Francine.

+break+

A change came in tenth grade, when the girls chanced to go to the same school. Julchen and Francine were arguing again, about something trivial. Cheyenne watched.

Francie glared at Julchen, then turned and flounced across the street. Cheynne's eyes widened as she saw the teen texting at the wheel.

"FRANCINE!" she bellowed, lung power from years of keeping four siblings in check.

Francine turned; her eyes widened. A scream tore from her lips as she tried to run out of the way of the car, but she wasn't fast enough. She lurched forward from impact and crumpled on the ground, blood starting to form.

The driver didn't even notice, as Francine was not run over.

.

Julchen let out a string of German and English explicatives, and Inner West didn't even censor it. She couldn't leave someone to die, even if it was Frenchie. She dashed into the road as Cheyenne followed suit, running forward to halt the traffic. It was dangerous, obviously, and involved much break slamming, but it was better than letting the other two girls get run over.

After she pointed out the bleeding girl to the annoyed driver, she called the ambulance. Julchen now had the injured and passed out girl in her arms, bridal style. Julchen was seriously strong.

"Is she... alive?"

"She's got a strong breath. But it's getting weaker. I think she passed out from pain and blood loss, but I can't tell where the blood is coming from. There's so much blood!"

Cheyenne forced herself to take deep breaths. "You seem calm."

"My brother's split his forehead, I've broken an arm and several fingers. I can deal with blood and stress. Doesn't mean I'm not freaking out."

The earsplitting cries of the ambulance arrived, and the silent crowd around the three girls parted. The paramedics pulled up.

"What happened?" a woman asked gruffly.

"She got hit by a car. She tried to get out of the way, but..."

"The driver?"

"It was a hit-and-run. I'm not sure he noticed; he was texting," Cheyenne contributed.

The woman nodded, and helped lift Francine into the ambulance with practiced ease.

.

Francine was loaded in to the vehicle. The skin on the back of her head had split, as well as a fairly shattered arm, which was the cause of the bleeding. She was bandaged, and the other two were allowed in.

"Are you guys good friends?" someone asked.

"Actually, no," Julchen said, guilt filling her voice. "If we hadn't been fighting like usual, she might have paid more attention. She might not have been hit."

"Don't blame yourself," Cheyenne whispered. "Blaming won't help right now."

Julchen nodded.

"What is the girl's name?" a man asked.

"Francine Bonnefoy."

"Do you know a cell number we can contact?"

"Oh Gott. Um, I have Josh's number from the science project. Do you think he'll have hers?"

"Worth a shot," Cheynne murmured.

Julchen whipped out her phone and called the boy. "This is an emergency. Francie's been in an accident. We need her mom's number."

"Sure, it's 000-000-0000."

"Thank you."

Julchen recited the number, and the paramedics called the house. By this time, they were at the hospital and Francine was being taken in.

On an impulse, Cheyenne wrapped her arms around Julchen, and the two stayed like that for a long while, hugging each other.

.

"Is she okay?"

"She'll live."

Julchen supposed that was the best answer they were getting out of the doctors until they had actual news. Francine's mom had come, and now sat next to the girls as they waited. Cheyenne broke the silence.

"You carried Francine, though."

"She's light."

"Still, you're not that much heavier."

"I train with Ludwig."

"Ludwig?"

"Mein bruder. My little brother."

"Ah."

The room fell again to an uneasy silence.

...

An interruption came in the form of the nurse. "You can come see her now."

The three of them leaped up. Francine now had a massive cast on one arm, a little tube in the other, and bandages around her head.

"We originally thought she had a broken rib as well, but she had not. She's actually doing pretty good; it was more blood loss than anything."

"I'm glad she's safe."

Suddenly, Julchen's phone rang. She rushed outside the room to answer it.

"Hallo Westie! I'm fine. No, I am at a hospital... be quiet for a moment! I'm fine! Francine's in the hospital. Yeah, the French girl. But I was arguing with her and now I feel kinda responsible, and anyway, I was the one who carried her out of the road. Cheyenne's here too, you know, she worked on that math project with me? Okay, yeah, ich liebe dich. Bye."

She hung up, and turned to Cheyenne. "You should probably tell your parents were you are too. My grandfather and West are coming to pick me up."

Cheyenne nodded. "Can I borrow your phone?"

"Sure."

Cheyenne dialled her parents, and began speaking in rapid Spanish. When she was finished, she handed the phone back to Julchen.

"Thank you. My parents are coming to pick me up too."

They waited in chairs next to Francine, until someone told them that their 'guardians' were waiting outside the room. Cheyenne and Julchen walked out.

"Hey, Lutz," Julchen said, slinging an arm around her brother's shoulders. "And Opa."

Grandfather 'hmm'ed.

Cheyenne was being hugged by four younger siblings. "Shhh, shhh!" she whispered. "We're in a hospital!"

"She's awake," came a voice. The nurse stood there.

Julchen darted into the room, with Cheyenne close behind. Francine's eyes were open.

"Quoi..."

"Francine!" Julchen exclaimed. "You okay?"

"Hurts..."

"Um, you got hit by a car," Cheyenne contributed.

"I remember that. Wait, Julchen? You're here?"

"Yeah, she carried you off the road."

"Aww, thanks! And you still have my blood all down your front."

Julchen made a face. "I hadn't noticed. I was preoccupied with your injuries."

"So how bad am I?"

"Broken arm, stitches in your head, I think," Cheyenne listed.

"C'est mer-" Francine was stopped by her mom giving her a LOOK.

"I wouldn't be fussed. You'll recover," Julchen threw in. "West's had his forehead banged open, and he's still fine."

Francine nodded. "When do I get to leave this place?"

"Tomorrow. You spend the night so we can observe for signs of a concussion, but we think the cut was from a sharp rock," the nurse cut in.

Francine huffed, and looked at her nails. Only one was damaged, broken past the skin so a single bead of blood welled up.

"Good thing your nails are perfect," slipped out before Julchen could stop herself. It was something she'd say at any other time, in a snide tone, but now she could stand a little sympathy! "I'm sorry, Francine. I didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay," Francine murmured softly.

"Julchen," Grandfather muttered. "We have to go home. You may come back in the morning."

"Opa-"

"Now, Julchen."

The girl nodded and followed her grandfather out the door.

+break+

The next morning, Julchen was up at five (like usual.) She dressed, ate breakfast, and spent the next fifteen minutes pestering Grandfather to take her to the hospital. Ludwig walked to school with his friend, Feliciano.

.

At the hospital, Julchen was admitted to see Francine. The French girl was sitting up, legs crossed. Her arm hung in a sling.

"Bonjour, Julchen."

"Hello, Francine. Are you okay?"

"It's nice of you to come see me!"

"Yeah, well..." Julchen flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"The cast is heavy."

"Ah."

Julchen grabbed Francine's hand on an impulse, and Francine hugged her with one arm. "Thank you. From what I hear, you and Cheyenne saved my life."

"But it was my fault! I'm always such a- such a mean person toward you, and then you got hit by that car and-"

"Shhh, it's fine."

Cheyenne walked in to see Julchen's arms around Francine, so she sat down next to them and hugged both girls.

"Hey, Cheyenne," Julchen said.

"Hey Julchen, and Francine. Are you all better now?"

"I've got a stupid heavy cast, but I'm good right now."

"Good!"

"Thank you, by the way."

"Me? I was just doing what anyone should. Julchen, she was risking her life to get you off that road, and she didn't even like you at first!"

"That," Francine hummed, "is an understatement."

Julchen's cheeks were red at Cheyenne's words.

"So, since we kinda skipped half of school already, why don't we go out to lunch?" Cheyenne suggested. "I know a good place not far from here!"

"Okay," Julchen replied.

Over lunch, it seemed, they became the best of friends. Of course, saving someone from getting hit by a car probably helps too.

+break+

Francine, Julchen, and Cheyenne returned the next day, and rumours had already circulated the school. One girl asked Cheyenne if it was true that a car was totalled and two people died outside of school.

"No. Francine got hit by a car, but she's okay now. There was a lot of blood though."

At least the rumours has toned down to "Francine Bonnefoy got hit by a car and bled out, the hospital had to restart her heart."

"Stupid," Julchen scoffed, and Francine had to agree.

.

Because Francine had all her classes with either Cheyenne or Julchen (or both), they wrote for her while her right hand was out of commission. The students spread rumours about the sudden turnaround of Julchen and Francine's relationship, but after a while, the three girls were so inseparable they were known as the 'trio'. As Francine's notorious flirtiness, Julchen's egoistic attitude, and Cheyenne's unfathomable cheeriness were taken into account, their name became the 'bad trio', 'bad friends trio', or 'bad touch trio'. Bad Touch Trio stuck.

 **That was the end of the first chapter, I guess. All translations throughout the story are pretty simple. If not, it would be worth your time to google translate them, they can be useful. :)**

 **I haven't decided on a post rate yet.**

 **More to come! Please review! I don't own Hetalia.**

 **~Em**


	2. A Cure for a Curse

Chapter 2

A Cure for a Curse

Now, the girls were juniors in high school, two years later. Their good looks and the fact that they were the 'different' girls made them all boy targets. Francine had gone on many first dates, but not a ton of second dates. Julchen went out with a Hungarian boy for a while, but he left her for a musician girl. Cheyenne had had a boyfriend, but after a while, the two just went to being friends.

It was Francine who noticed.

"No-one likes my kisses," she sighed to Julchen once. "They love being around me, I can tell, but they never move to kiss me."

"Francine..." Julchen sighed. "Not everyone is as French as you are." She gave a strange, hissing laugh to show she was teasing.

"But Jul, I'm not kidding! You see couples all over school, they share kisses all the time."

"That Hungarian boy never tried to kiss me."

"You two are cursed, then," Cheyenne joked. "Cursed to be forever alone."

"Riiiiight. Because that boy, Jacob*, always kissed you."

"Oh no! We're all doomed to be old cat ladies!"

"Who woulda cursed us?"

"Magic isn't real, Julchen."

"It could be, Ms. Love-is-magic."

"I don't say that! Do I say that, Chey?"

"Si, si, you do!"

"Goddamn."

"Don't cuss, Francie-pants!"

"You're one to talk, German."

"Prussian."

"Whatever- I mean, I'm sorry, Prussian!" If looks could kill, Francie'd be dead.

"Anyway, I don't cuss."

"Sure you do."

"I don't."

"You've never cussed?"

"I swear, I've never cussed." Julchen then blushed. "Except for one time. Your, uh, car crash. I saw you bleeding and I was scared for you and I kinda spat out every word I knew."

That... That was touching...!

Pause.

"Dang, Jul..."

"Blame my brother."

"Is he a control freak?"

"Yeah."

They sat quietly for a moment.

"Hey, what were we talking about in the first place?"

+break+

Here at World High, it shouldn't be a surprise that more students from Europe were here. After all, this was a school for people out-of-country to come to.

However, the monthly new-student assembly was called, and it was the most interesting thing to happen to the Bad Touch Trio since they became the Bad Touch Trio.

"This is Arthur Kirkland, Lovino Vargas, Matthew Williams, Tiare Venn, Jasmine Arianna..."

The names continued, but the three girls ignored all the students except for three.

"And now a little about yourselves..."

"I'm Arthur, from London, England, and I am a writer."

"I'm Lovino, from Rome, Italy, and I came because my brother was here already."

"I-I'm Matthew and I'm from Nice, France, but my parents were Canadian."

"Hey! A fellow Frenchie!" Francine joked.

"I think he's cute."

"Julchen's got a crushhhh~" Cheyenne whisper-sang.

"Right. Because I said a boy was cute. Yet you were eyeing that Italian."

Cheyenne blushed. "Was not!"

"Oh, you deny your love!" Francine proclaimed. "Girls, we're gonna get ourselves boyfriends! I think that Arthur is hot."

"His eyebrows though!"

"Hmm. Sexy eyebrows."

The girls laughed. Cheyenne joked, "Francine Bonnefoy, only you..."

"And only you, Cheyenne, would see good in that Italian with the permanent scowl."

"I-I don't!"

"You do."

"I do."

"Good, now we're somewhere!"

"And my supposed perfect match?" Julchen asked, crossing her arms.

"Matthew Williams."

"Nein."

"Your blush says otherwissseee~"

"You're being so un-awesome..."

"And this is how we know Jul's run out of insults, when she starts saying 'awesome'."

"You caught me. 'Frenchie' has gotten old, and I can't properly say that now that there is another Frenchie here."

Cheyenne's face split into a grin. "Ah-hah! You acknowledge his existence, as there were already other Frenchies in the school!"

"Fine. I was unawsomely caught. I think he's cute and may or may not want to kiss him."

"So..." Francine smiled. "Let's get some boyfriends!"

Cheyenne called Francine something unflattering, but the blonde girl just laughed.

.

"You guys." Julchen shook her head. "All of us are so chicken right now. Even Francine. You know what?"

"What?"

"I am going to go over right now. And ask him out. Right now."

"Good for you!"

The trio sat a few benches away from the three boys, who were talking with two older students: a smirking Romanian and a quiet and disinterested Norwegian.

Julchen walked over confidently. The boys were so involved in their conversation that they didn't notice her.

"...ice magic, so that's why I think that there are categories."

"Hallo!" Julchen cheered.

"H-hello," a few voices replied.

"I know you are newbies, so I can totally show you around if you want." Crap! That's an invite to all three! "My friends and I know the school really well, so if you need a hand, we can help." Better.

Julchen flashed an enormous smile and walked back to Cheyenne and Francie, her suppressed stress now fully apparent on her face.

"So, how'd it go?" Francine asked.

"I volunteered all of us to show the three of them around school."

"Great!" Cheyenne said. "You helped us out, too!"

"But I totally don't know what to do next..."

"Don't sweat it. If someone doesn't love you for who you are anyway, they aren't for you," Francine advised.

.

The next day, Francine, Julchen, and Cheyenne walked (or flounced) over to the three boys. "Thought about our offer?" Francine asked smoothly.

"Um, that-that'd be nice, thanks," Matthew stammered, while Lovino glared and Arthur stared.

"Ooh, you're gonna be associated with the Bad Touch Trio now!" someone hissed. "Everyone knows they've got a bit of witchcraft about them!"

Arthur smirked. "Witchcraft? How odd! I guess I will take you up on your offer!"

The blonde pulled Lovino to his feet. "It's a nice school. Lots of culture."

"Si, si," Cheyenne said, nodding. "By the way, I'm Cheyenne Carrideo, from sunny Spain!"

"I'm Francine Bonnefoy, from flirty France!"

"I'm Julchen Beilschmidt, from... oh, what's an adjective that goes with Prussia? Ah, perfect Prussia!"

Matthew laughed lightly. "Julchen is a pretty name."

"Thank you!"

"Hey, you said you had a brother?" Cheyenne asked Lovino. The girls were now leading the boys to the fields.

"Feliciano. I stayed in Italy for a year while my brother and Nonno moved here."

Julchen interrupted, "Feliciano is my bro's friend!"

"Hmm."

Francine began to talk about the school. "So, they don't just play the usual sports. They have sports from all over, and some with multiple types of rules, like there might be a 'American rules league' and a 'German rules league'. The cafeteria, here, also serves a lot of different kinds of food, but then again, most American cafeterias do."

"Francine, was it?" Arthur confirmed. "Why are you called the Bad Touch Trio?"

Julchen laughed. "Mostly because Fran and I used to hate each other, and neither of us even knew Cheyenne. Then there was this bad accident in tenth grade, and we became friends. The school changed 'Bad Friends' to 'Bad Touch' because of my awesomeness and Francie's flirtiness."

"In other words, you were said to be doomed if you were selected by one of us. But don't worry, those are rumours," Cheyenne cut in.

"Sounds interesting," Matthew whispered.

"Doesn't it though," Julchen said, linking arms with Cheyenne and Matthew. They walked past the school fountain like that, Matthew's face bright red and Julchen trying to act nonchalant.

.

After their tour of the school, the trio called goodbye in their respective languages and departed for class, the three boys walking the other way.

"Did you sense the residual ice magic?" Matthew asked.

"So I was right! About the categories!"

"Only Lovino said you were wrong."

The two temperamental boys began to argue, Matt face palming and giving up trying to stop them.

.

The girls were located at their tree like usual, munching on lunch. Suddenly, Arthur and Matthew walked over.

"May we join you?"

"Sure!" Julchen and Francine chorused, cheeks dusted pink.

"Lovino," Arthur called, "get over here!"

Lovino reluctantly joined them, making Cheyenne smile. "Welcome to the Bad Touch Tree," she greeted.

"Thank you."

"So why're you over here, out of curiosity?" Julchen asked, scooting over next to Matthew.

"W-we just felt like it, eh..."

"Yes. Some members had certain feelings that they wanted to come over here," Lovino smirked, rewarded with a colouring of Arthur and Matthew's cheeks. "Also, it was something weird about you guys. An experiment, if you will."

"Like one of those psych things?" Cheyenne guessed.

"Kind of."

"But don't believe Lovino's attitude about the whole feelings thing," Matthew said with a rare pointed confidence, and Lovino blushed as well.

Francine suddenly said, "Hey Arthur, I know you just met me about three days ago, but will you go out with me?"

The table turned quiet.

Arthur adopted a deer in the headlight look, then said, "Frog."

So eloquent, Arthur.

"Soooo~..."

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and replied, "I guess so."

"Yay!" Francine cheered, hugging Arthur. The Brit blushed.

"And I promise I won't take your soul or anything."

.

Julchen's way was more subtle. The next day, she slid a note into Matthew's locker. It read, 'I think you're cute, Birdie. Go out with me?"

Matthew pulled open the locker, saw the note, and hoped against hope that it was Julchen.

The six sat at the bad touch tree again, with Francine and Arthur sitting right next to each other.

"Have you kissed?" Cheyenne asked.

Francine shook her head, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"So, Birdie, do you play a sport?" Julchen asked, the unintentional nickname slipping out before she could stop it.

"It was you!"

"W-was?"

"The note in the locker!"

Julchen nodded.

"Then yes," Matthew whispered shyly. He turned to Julchen and kissed her cheek quickly. Two people let out an 'awwwww'. (It wasn't the boys.)

Julchen turned red and was the quietest she'd ever been.

Cheyenne still hadn't asked Lovino out, but Lovino did instead. He stood up, walked over, and said, "It's really awkward being alone when my friends have girlfriends, andImightlikeyou, so will you go out with me?"

Cheyenne somehow understood the last mumbled words and squeaked, "Yes!"

Lovino sat down next to Cheyenne, where he was immediately hugged. "L-let go of me, you-"

"Awww, but Lovi, hugs are nice!" the Spaniard complained.

"What the f*** is a Lovi?"

"You're Lovi, silly!"

"Really though, Mattie, do you play a sport?"

"Ice hockey..."

"Wow. That's pretty violent. Wouldn't have thought you played."

"Well... I don't know. It's fun."

"It's certainly exciting! Actually, I play water polo, so..."

"That's violent too," Matthew said, smiling a bit.

"What about the rest of you?" Julchen asked. "I know Cheyenne plays soccer, Francine dances, but what about you?"

"Soccer also," Lovino mumbles.

"You dance?" Arthur asked. "What kind?"

"Ballet!"

"Ah. Seems like something you would do."

"So, Arthur, what sport do you do?"

"I fence occasionally."

"If occasionally meant he's won tournaments, yes," Matthew interjects.

"I used to win tournaments. I'm not very good anymore."

When the bell rings, they give quick hugs and leave, running off to their next class.

+break+

Five days later, Julchen invited Matthew to her house. "Ludwig!" she called.

Her brother walked into the room, looking perfectly groomed as always.

"That's your brother?" Matthew asked, his hand resting lightly on Julchen's shoulder.

"Yeah."

"Julchen, who is this?"

"My boyfriend, Matthew," Julchen said casually, while Matthew blushed.

"Hmmm."

Ludwig turned to leave, and Julchen called after him, "What, no reaction? You're just like Opa!"

The two retreated upstairs to do homework, sitting on the floor with their papers spread all around them. Julchen was bent over a math problem with Matthew, trying to figure what they did wrong, when she looked up and found she was staring right into his eyes.

Acting on impulse, she closed the distance between them and kissed his lips softly.

She pulled away, her cheeks feeling as bright red as Matthew's look, but Matthew said, "I knew it! Ice magic!"

"Ice magic?"

Matthew goes back to stuttering. "D-do you believe in magic?"

"Why?"

Matthew appears to think for a moment, then pokes a seemingly random point in the air. A snowflake falls from his finger.

"Whoa! That was magic? Ice magic, like you said! That's so awesome! Magic exists! I told you, Francine!"

Matthew smirks. "Francine's boyfriend is one of the best children at magic in the country."

Julchen laughs. "Cheyenne was joking that we all got cursed to be forever alone, because of- oh, I forget now. But yeah."

"Ironically, I think you were. But that's okay, I have magic too!"

"This is just weird." Julchen shakes her head. "Anything I should know about magic?"

"I don't think so. But I do have to tell Arthur and Lovino."

"Does Lovino have magic too? Do I?"

"That's what we try to find out. But Lovino does have magic, green magic I think. He doesn't believe in categories of magic."

"Hmm. Well, some people don't believe in magic, so I guess someone could not believe in categories. But that's almost like a science thing, like the religious people who don't believe in evolution or the Big Bang or whatever. Maybe evolution could exist but God guided it or something... Whoa, I just invented a religion that is compatible with scientific evidence! You know what, Birdie..."

"You can really talk a lot," Matthew commented, and Julchen blushed.

"Sorry."

.

"Arthur," Matthew called, walking over towards the boy. Julchen was chatting with Francine.

"M-Matthew?"

"I was right."

"About..."

"The residual traces..."

"What?"

"You know, I was saying there was residual traces and then you started fighting."

"Oh."

"Yes. And I thought you could see if my theory is correct... And you're Francine's boyfriend..."

"Shut up," Arthur replied, blushing.

The girls hadn't heard any part of the conversation, but were joined by Cheyenne in the meantime. Lovino walked up to the other two.

"Watch this, Lovino," Matthew whispered, motioning to Arthur, who was walking towards Francine. Julchen and Cheyenne stepped back, the former smirking as she had a good idea of what this was.

Arthur walked up to Francine, slid his arm around her waist, and kissed her just like that. Francine's eyes widened in shock, but she forgot in a matter of milliseconds and melted into the kiss.

When Arthur and Francine broke apart, there was a whistle from across the schoolyard. Lovino glared in that general direction. Arthur said nothing, but smiled, blushed, and gave a tiny nod.

Two out of three, Matthew thought.

.

The next day, Lovino had kissed Cheyenne at some point. The three boys, who had formed their own trio of sorts, discussed the magic that the three girls apparently had on them.

"And, we're going to tell them right now."

Lovino responded with an earsplitting steam of curses.

"What was that all about, Lovino?"

"I didn't like Arthur's idea."

"I'm sorry."

With that, Matthew pulled Lovino to his feet and dragged him over to Cheyenne. With a final shove, Lovino was standing in front of her.

"Dammit, ice boy... Why aren't you off talking to Julchen?"

"I already told her."

"The hell? But... Goddamit, ice boy, you never think ahead."

"That's rich, coming from you!" Arthur yelled at Lovino.

"Fine. Cheyenne, I may or may not have some kind of magic..."

"What, Lovi? I didn't understand!"

"Don't call me that! Ugh. Here."

Lovino pointed at the dirt, where Cheyenne stared raptly. A tiny plant escaped from the soil, growing fast.

"It's magic, okay? And I have magic. And you have a curse on you."

Cheyenne's hands flew to her mouth. "I do? Then am I going to die? Or do I have to be saved by true love's kiss or-"

Lovino stared at his feet. "We're working on it."

"We?"

"Me and those two b******s."

"Aww, Lovi, don't call people names. It's not nice."

Francine flounced over to Julchen. "Fine, you were right. About magic. And Cheyenne was right about the curse. Isn't that weird?"

"You guessed that you had a curse?" Matthew asked quietly.

"Francine's had enough boyfriends for us to collect data!" Julchen joked. "None of them wanted to kiss her. It was actually Francine that said that."

"Hmm."

.

The six collected around the Bad Touch Tree to eat lunch.

"So," Arthur explained, "We think the ice magic had been placed in your mouth, on your lips actually, and that it was to prevent anyone from wanting to kiss you, or be with you at all. This kind of magic is usually accompanied by a sudden chill. But that goes away, so I doubt you would've noticed it. Is that all?"

"Eh... Yes," Matthew affirmed.

The three boys sat quietly in thought, until Lovino interrupted, "Screw this. We can search Arthur's stupid magic books later. Let's just eat lunch."

Arthur and Matthew looked surprised, as if looking up information had never occurred to them (it probably hadn't; they weren't known for finding the easy way out) and were immediately wrapped up in the conversation around them.

"...So, Julchen and I were playing dodgeball with the guys," Cheyenne was saying, "and Julchen was the last one in except for a guy on the other team and the new kid on her team. You know, that boy from Switzerland who flaunts his muscles. So he says, 'I'll protect you, girl, don't worry.' Course, Julchen-"

"I said, 'HECK no!'" Julchen recalled, laughing.

"Then what happened?"

"Well, I started whipping the dodgeballs at the other guy, water polo style. The guy says, 'No, give me the ball!' Like he expects me to hand it over!"

"You said, 'I can throw,'" Cheyenne remembered. "I don't even know why he thought you were so weak."

Julchen shrugged, her mouth now full of food.

+break+

Two weeks passed before Arthur found a lead. Something in his books mentions the 'snow curse', a curse designed to make the receiver undesirable and, if strong enough, hated. Judging by the infamy of the Bad Touch Trio, they had a slight 'hate me' vibe going, so the spell was probably strong enough that it would take either all of Arthur's energy or a mildly strong drain if they worked together.

"Stand. In the circle," Lovino commanded. The six people were at Lovino's house.

Francine demanded, "Why?"

"Because, damn it!"

"Stop being contrary," Cheyenne laughed, dragging the French girl into the chalk circle sketched on Lovino's bedroom floor. The trio gripped each other tightly and Francine tried to hide behind Cheyenne.

"This is just a bunch of voodoo."

"FRANCINE!"

"We've already proved magic is real. Move on to removing the curse," Lovino commanded, flipping his hand down to emphasize.

Arthur pointed to a spell, so the three boys crowded around the big book in his arms. Arthur raised his hand like a conductor, and when he signaled, the three began chanting in unison. The trio didn't dare breathe, believing magic just enough to be wary.

"...finiteus est!"

There was silence for a bit, before Julchen asked, "Is that all?"

"Yes."

Cheyenne stepped gingerly out of the circle, followed by Julchen and an unimpressed Francie.

"Nothing happened."

"Nothing visible," Arthur corrected.

"But, we aren't magically becoming the best girls of the school," Francine confirmed. "We're going to stay infamous and unpredictable? I don't really like infamous, but I guess that's what I get hanging with Julchen."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding! But nothing happened."

"I took a curse off you!" Arthur shouted. "What else do you want?"

"I was expecting something to happen!" Francine complained.

"Francine, just be quiet," Cheyenne warned. Francine huffed and crossed her arms.

"Thanks Matt," Julchen muttered casually. She leaned toward him to plant a quick kiss on his lips before turning to Arthur. "Can I go?"

"I guess...?" Arthur stated, confused.

Julchen stalked out the door, head high, with a bright red Matthew and a confused Arthur in her wake. Cheyenne similarly hugged Lovino, who protested, while Francine kissed Arthur's cheek and flounced away.

.

"Guess what!" Cheyenne begged, sliding into her spot at the Bad Touch Tree.

"What?" five voices chanted back.

"I'm on the team~" the Spanish girl sang, meaning the varsity soccer team in the school. With the size of the school, that was no easy feat.

"Congratulations," Lovino whispered, offering her a cherry tomato. "D'you want one? It's from my garden."

"Thank you, Lovi!" Cheyenne replied enthusiastically.

"Don't call me that! My name is Lovino!"

"But that's like three syllables," Cheyenne joked. "I'm calling you Lovi. Or mi tomate. Your choice."

"Lovi's fine, I guess," the Italian boy replied, blushing.

"Yay~"

"So, anyway, congrats Chey!" Julchen enthused, slinging an arm around her best friend.

"Thank you, Jul," Cheyenne replied. "How is your team doing, while we're on the subject?"

"Still awesome." Julchen grinned. "World High has the best sports teams."

"Although, its American football is sorely lacking," Arthur commented.

"There isn't a lot of Americans in the school," Francine explained.

"Yes, that'd put a damper on a solely American and rather crude sport."

Matthew laughed. "That one boy though... Was his name Alfred? 'Football is awesome man, it's the best sport! And it's not crude!'"

The group shared a laugh at Matthew's bad impression of their fellow student, a boy who got in with an American football scholarship and barely any brains.

For the rest of the day, they could just be normal, awesome people.

 **Long chapter! You're welcome.**

 **Jacob is a random person. You may pretend it's whoever you want. It's one of the names I find myself using a lot, along with Marienne.**

 **I've decided to try to post weekly, but I can't guarantee it'll be on the same day each week.**

 **~Em**


	3. Finding Love and Hidden Enemies

**So. Hi. Em here.**

 **Do you ever look back on what you've written, and think, "Did I write this when I was tired? Or on a sugar-high? Or both?"**

 **…yeah. I'm going to post this story anyway.**

 **(Also, I haven't got a review yet. Not to whine, but it's kinda bumming me out. Is this posting right? Is it as bad as I think it is? Honest criticism is okay.)**

Chapter three

Finding Love and Hidden Enemies

"Natalya. Did you feel that?"

"Feel what, brother dear?"

Ivan sat up, feeling the lingering effects of a curse being broken. A curse that he had cast perhaps five years ago. His hand opened over Natalya's mirror to find his curse.

Natasha joined her brother and sister to crowd around the glass.

An image appeared, of three girls. Natalya recognized the three at once.

"Who broke the curse?" Ivan wondered.

"I don't know, but I will find them!" Natalya claimed. "Wish me luck."

"Sister-" Natasha started warningly.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure I can handle myself," the youngest of the family replied, a knife shimmering in her hand. "Watch and learn."

"Let her go," Natasha muttered, throwing out an arm for Ivan.

++This line break is brought to you by way of Sun Chariot++

Natalya walked into the office of the school. "Privet, I am Natalya Braginski, from Belarus. May I enroll in the school?"

"Um, you need a parent or guardian to sign this form. And you need to pay tuition."

"Oh, I do now?" Natalya asked, playing with a knife smaller than her fingernail. Without warning, she whipped out her hand and threw it into the secretary's shoulder. The woman slumped over, asleep.

Natalya plopped into a chair and waited for the secretary to sit up again. The woman did so, drowsily muttering, "I'm sorry, Natalya. What did you need?"

"A late pass, miss," the witch replied.

"Ah, of course. Hurry along, and don't miss any more classes!"

"Ah, one more thing, miss. Can I see the schedules of every child?"

"Of course, dearie."

Natalya formulated a schedule matching the BTT's as close as possible, then conjured excuse papers as she walked to her first class.

+break+

Natalya sat at the table next to BTT and co. She didn't eat, instead choosing to stare at the six.

"Arthur," Francine drawled, arm around her boyfriend's shoulders. "Porquoi? Why do you keep flinching?"

"Because," the boy muttered, leaning against Francine. "She's creepy."

Francine followed Arthur's gesture to the small Belarusian girl. "Hmm. She is a bit odd."

"I think she's pretty," Julchen commented breezily. "In an eerily perfect way."

The Prussian was currently sitting in Matthew's lap, his arms around her waist.

"She has got a certain prettiness, but that isn't beauty," Francine lectured.

Arthur, still encircled by Francine's arm, remarked, "I don't like her. There's a je ne pas quoi about her that-"

"You speak French?"

"It's a phrase that's been adopted into English, to mean something you can't quite put your finger on. No, I don't speak French."

"Darn..."

"Anyway," Arthur huffed, "I was saying that there's something magical about her. Something bad."

"Aww, was the poor thing cursed too?" Cheyenne asked. "D'you wanna see if she'll join us?"

"That is a bad idea," Lovino stated, laying down with his head in Cheyenne's lap. "I'm tired. Wake me when the bell rings."

The Spaniard peered curiously at the boy's head. "I don't believe it! He fell asleep!" She began to chuckle quietly, propping herself up on her hands.

"That's the fastest I've seen anyone fall asleep," Matthew commented.

The remaining five awake chatted to the bell, Natalya entirely forgotten. When Lovino didn't wake even when the bell rang, Cheyenne smiled, propped Lovino upright, and pressed her lips to his.

Lovino immediately began to kiss back, and the two stayed that way for several seconds, until Cheyenne pulled away and helped Lovino sit up.

"That wasn't what I meant!" Lovino growled, cheeks red and trying to fight a smile off his face.

Francine and Julchen just laughed.

.

Julchen ran home, crashing open the door. "Hallo, bruder!" she yelled, slinging her backpack onto the table.

"Hallo," Ludwig replied, from the kitchen.

"Ciao!" came a rather unexpected voice.

"Feliciano? You're here!"

"Si, si!" the Italian replied, laughing.

"What, are you over here to do homework together?" Julchen asked.

Feliciano nodded. "Luddy is going to help me with math, and I can help him with history."

"Excellent partnership, then," Julchen hummed. "I'll leave you to it and go upstairs." With that, the Prussian disappeared into her room.

In a couple of hours, Feliciano left, and Lutz was sitting on his bed when Julchen entered. She flopped onto her brother's bed without comment.

"Hello Julchen," Ludwig sighed, speaking in German.

"Hey West," she replied in the same language. "Sooooo, Feliciano is a good friend of yours, hmmm?"

"What, Julchen..."

"Just, you seemed so happy around him."

"Yes, Feliciano is a good friend."

"I'm your sister. Tell me what is on your mind."

"Opa says gay people should go to hell," Ludwig started, not one for beating around the bush.

"And you like Feliciano," Julchen assumed.

"What?! How-"

"West. I spend so much time around two flirts and self-proclaimed love experts from the country of love and the country of passion. They rub off on me."

"All right..."

"You know what? I don't give a flying banana what Opa thinks. Tomorrow, after school, you will do exactly as I say. Got it?"

"I don't know if I should trust-"

"You will go up to Feli, making sure no one else is there. You will face him properly and look him in the eye. And you will say, 'Feli, I have liked you as a bit more than a friend for a while now.'"

"And then what?"

"Either he'll say he likes you too, he'll ask to go out with you, or he'll go 'ohhh...' And that means he just thinks of you as a friend."

"But that'll be awkward!"

"Right. So you say, 'I had to tell you because it would not be fair for you not to know.'"

"I don't like this plan."

"Too bad. You do it or I tell the entire school that you used to have a pet stick when you were a kid."

"Whaaaaat?! Julchen!"

"You'll do it? Good. My work here is done."

Julchen stood, hugged her brother, and left.

"I hate you."

"No you don't~" she sang.

.

"Be proud of me," Julchen commanded, sliding into her spot at the tree. "I convinced my brother to ask someone out."

"Who?" Cheyenne and Francine chorused.

Julchen leaned over and whispered the name in their ears, prompting them to discreetly glance at Lovino and look back at Julchen.

"Lovino's going to flip out," Cheyenne whispered back. "He doesn't like your brother."

"Opa's going to really flip out," Julchen replied in a normal voice. "He's very religious. I am too, but I don't agree with everything in my religion."

Francine nods importantly. "Who are we to stop l'amour?"

"What now?" Arthur asked.

"Julchen just told her brother to ask a boy out, but her grandfather is very religious," Cheyenne summed.

"Ah."

"It's always nice to see a gay or lesbian couple acting like any normal couple," Matthew whispered. "I've even been to my cousin's wedding, where she married another girl."

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Julchen cooed.

The bell rang then, and the three girls darted off to English while the three boys ran to History.

Natalya also walked slowly down to English.

+break+

Ludwig ran to Feliciano after school, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder. "I need to talk to you," he stated.

"O-okay..." Feliciano looked slightly frightened, probably because Ludwig was head and shoulders taller than him and rather scary.

Feliciano waited silently as Ludwig stared into the crowd, wishing they would clear out faster. Finally, a last giggling student left.

"Feliciano... um..." Ludwig choked on the words, a faint blush making its way to his cheeks.

"D-did I do something wrong?" Feli asked. "I'm sorry if I-"

"No," Ludwig interrupted. "You're fine. It wasn't anything anyone did. It's just... I've kind of liked you as more than a friend for a while now."

"What?" Feliciano asked.

"F-feliciano, will you be my boyfriend?"

Ooohhkay, Julchen definitely didn't suggest that but-

"Yes-" Feli gasped, looking up at Ludwig. "Oh, I thought you could never like me back! Because you were so religious! So I never- I tried to be a normal friend and I tried to get over it but- but you like me too! Yes, I'll be your boyfriend!" The tiny Italian threw his arms around Ludwig, trapping him in a hug. The German blushed.

"Do you want a piggyback ride home?"

"Si, si!" Feli giggled. Ludwig picked up Feli and carried the boy all the way to his house.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Luddy," Feliciano chirped, kissing his cheek and disappearing inside. Ludwig started his walk home.

Outside the house, his sister intercepted him. "Hallo!"

"H-Hallo."

"Sooooooooo..."

Julchen linked her arm through Ludwig's, although the boy might have as well have been a robot for how much he reacted. She dragged him to the living room, shoved him in a chair, and sat daintily in a separate chair.

"Westieeeee! Tell me what happened!" Julchen demanded.

Her brother blushed. "I asked. He said yes."

Somehow interpreting that sentence to hold emotion, Julchen squealed, "Mein bruder has a boyfriend! Mein Gott! I'm happy for you!"

Ludwig quietly suffered through the hug that Jul gave him, then walked upstairs to do homework.

.

A few hours later, the slamming door announced Grandfather. They weren't sure what job he had but it caused him to work strange hours.

"Hallo," Julchen called from the living room. Ludwig was already asleep.

"Hallo," Grandfather replied.

"Opa, Ludwig has a boyfriend."

"What!?" Grandfather thundered.

Julchen stood, red eyes blazing. "I'm sticking up for my brother, homosexual or not. You will not degrade him or- or anything because of it. Even if it means I disobey you, I will support Lutz till I die."

Grandfather walked over and placed a heavy hand on Julchen's shoulder. Ludwig had inherited his height. Julchen had not.

"I am protecting him. I know he will be hurt, and worse because he is out of society's norms."

"What do you know, Opa? As my friends remind me, homosexuality is more accepted in modern day America. We ain't in Germany and Prussia anymore."

The 'ain't' was supposed to be a jab. New country, new slang.

"No, we aren't in Germany anymore."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"No. You asked me what do I know, and I answer. I know, because I had a love, and I ended up being an outcast over it. Literally shunned and hated by every single person in the town. Didn't know that, Julchen, I see? Well, don't cry, because-"

"Strong women don't cry," Julchen spat. "I'm glad I met Francine Bonnefoy, or Gott knows how I would have turned out. Apparently you need some French in your life too."

"I already had more Italian than was acceptable. After he left, I swore I wouldn't let love damage my grandchildren."

"So that's why. Because you dated an Italian."

"No."

"What then?"

The two stood in glaring silence for a moment, then Grandfather asked, "Who is Ludwig dating?"

"Feliciano Vargas," the girl answered cautiously.

"V-Vargas?" What? Grandfather never stutters. Never. Never ever.

"Ja..."

"Why Vargas, Gott..." Grandfather slumped into the chair. "Why that family...?"

"What do you mean?"

"Feliciano's grandfather was the Italian I just told you about. And it was so much more than friendship, more than just simple dates. It was love. And when we were found out, he had to leave. Then, I didn't even have him to help me through anymore. I moved to America, knowing he had gone here too. I did not know his grandchildren went to this school."

Probably the longest speech Grandfather's ever given.

Julchen just stared in shock.

"I need to think," she finally gasped, running upstairs and throwing herself onto her bed. She grabbed a stuffed animal from underneath the bed, something she hadn't done in years, and held it to her chest as she fell asleep.

.

Grandfather was still asleep when Julchen rose at five and escaped the house to run. Her black capris, black tee shirt, and bare feet did nothing to protect her from the crisp chill of the morning air. The sun had not yet risen.

Julchen's white hair streamed behind her as she raced down the street. Coming to a decision, she ran inside, grabbed her backpack, stuffed her shoes into it, and scribbled out a note for West.

"gone for a run

will get myself to school, don't wait for me

-Jul"

That done, she again continued her run, happily racing down the streets with the ability to think of nothing but her burning lungs and aching feet. Running was her escape, and had been since she was young.

She reached the park between her house and the school and slowed to a stop. There she began to do push-ups and sit-ups on the dewy grass. She didn't care that the back of her shirt was soaked, but she loved the workout.

Soon, she stood and walked along the sidewalk. Something caught her eye and she turned.

"Who are you? Oh, Natalya, right?"

The Belarusian girl nodded. "You are out early."

"So are you," Julchen countered.

"I saw you from my house," Natalya explained, waving vaguely behind the girls. "I wanted to talk to you."

"No offense, but why?" Julchen asked. "Anyone in the school can tell you we're not the ones to talk to."

Natalya thought for a moment. "Anyone who is working out at five a.m. is probably not a stereotypical popular girl."

"Yeah, I guess so. I came out here to escape."

"Escape people?"

"Yeah. I just didn't want to be with anyone I knew right then."

"That is understandable. What happened?"

"My grandfather and I... had a fight last night... and he told me some stuff that completely changed my view of things. And I'm awesome enough to protect my baby brother, but I don't want him hurt... But at the same time, I'm not going to prevent him from dating Feli, unless Feli turns out to be an axe murderer or something."

Natalya nodded, not actually understanding at all. She once again looked at Julchen's clothing.

"You look different."

"I look really boyish, huh?"

"Yes." Boyish... That gave Natalya an idea. But think on it later. "You and your friends are always wearing something that at least makes you look like a girl..."

"This morning, I grabbed one of my brother's tee shirts. It fits me nicely if I tie up the side, see?"

Julchen swiftly tied a knot in the hem, so the shirt no longer hung halfway down her thighs.

"Hmm. Nice. Will you go to school like that?"

"Yeah. I haven't worn something this boyish since... sixth grade! I used to pretend I was a boy, and I was able to enter the Prussian military. I'd become a military leader, and I'd fight with a sword better than anyone."

"I have never thought of being a boy."

"Why would you? You're good as you are. Your body is like a ballerina's; are you a ballerina?"

"Not really."

Julchen did not comment on the answer.

Natalya, on the other hand, had meant that she was great at fighting with knives and looked rather ballerina-esque when she did.

"Hey, why don't we walk together to school? It starts in-" Julchen glanced at her watch. "-forty minutes."

Natalya replied in some language (Russian, maybe?) and nodded. The two girls set off to school.

.

Upon reaching school, Julchen spotted Matthew, stammered a quick 'goodbye', and left.

"Boyish..." Natalya muttered.

.

Julchen kissed Matthew quickly and darted over to join the group. "Hey guys."

"What's up, Jul? You sound gloomy," Cheyenne stated.

"How the f*** can you tell? She's cheerier than half the girls in the school!" This is Lovino, of course.

"I just know." Cheyenne waved her hand. "Julchen..."

"Last night, grandfather told me his story of being ignored by his town because he was gay," Julchen muttered as way of explanation.

"And now you're worried about Ludwig," Francine finished.

"Exactly."

Cheyenne surprise hugged Julchen. "Don't worry! It's modern day America, and people are a lot more forgiving."

"Hey, out of curiosity, who is your brother dating?" Arthur asked.

The Bad Touch Trio froze.

"Uh, Feliciano," Julchen muttered, eyeing Lovino.

Unexpectedly, the boy only nodded. "I know. Your brother is a potato, but Feli loves him, and that's mostly what's important. Something wrong, Chey?"

"P-potato!" Cheyenne gasped, still giggling. "Who calls s-someone a potato!?"

"I do," Lovino huffed.

"They're right there," Matthew whispered, pointing to two people. The group of six ambled toward the pair.

"Wait wait wait. Watch this!" Julchen exclaimed, holding a hand out to her friends. With their eyes on her, she crept toward Ludwig, tapping his shoulder. Ludwig spun around with fists raised, startled, but Julchen caught his arms with her hands. "Hey little brother."

Ludwig raised two fingers and placed them on his forehead, looking down on Julchen. "Hello, Julchen."

"I scared you, didn't I? Huh?"

"No... Only a little tiny bit," Ludwig admitted under Julchen's penetrating glare.

Feliciano laughed softly at seeing his boyfriend give in to his half a foot shorter sister.

Julchen waved her friends over. "West, have you met Arthur and Lovino?"

"Lovino, yes," Ludwig sighed. "Not Arthur."

"Lutz, Arthur; Arthur, Lutz. All right, done with introductions!"

"Hello!" Feli cried. "I'm Feliciano. Who are you?" he asked, directing the question to Francine.

"Francine Bonnefoy." Francine curtsied.

"Excellent! Now we all know each other!" Feliciano proclaimed.

"Excellent," Lovino echoed, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

However, various replies were lost in the ring of the bell. The teenagers rushed off to class. Julchen noticed Natalya next to her in the stream of students.

"Hey, Natalya!" Julchen yelled over the noise.

"Privet!" the Belarusian yelled back.

The flow of the students pushed her and Julchen apart, so Natalya was left alone with her thoughts.

Someone was nice to me!

A random girl, who I truly met this morning, was nice to me!

She took the time to say hi, and looked as if she was truly happy she saw me, and didn't hate/fear me!

Natalya forgot why she came to the school, that she hated Julchen, and her ready spells until third period.

.

Third period, however, was the first class she had with Julchen. The girl arrived right on time, glancing around the classroom before sitting down. Natalya practically felt everyone's attention being pulled toward Julchen.

"Hallo!" Julchen practically yelled. "The awesome is here!"

These words were accompanied by a joking smile and a flinging of her hands into the air. The class giggled.

Julchen slid into her seat, and turned to look at the seat next to her. She seemed oblivious to the mutterings of "she looks like a guy!" but something in her eyes told Natalya otherwise.

"Hey Nat."

"H-hello Julchen."

"See what I mean?" Julchen ran a hand through her loose white hair. "I always dress girly, so I'm going to hear this for the rest of the day."

"But are you not used to people talking of you?"

"Well, see, this is Francie-pants' thing, really. Being talked about, being charming, being popular. Me, I'd rather be the one who everyone knows is there, but they talk about her actions, not herself. I want to be the prankster, the unusual one, the one who is awesome but never a 'popular' kid. Just a girl known for her talent, whatever that may be." Julchen took a breath. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, Francine's influenced me. A lot. And I'm not sure if that's good or bad."

"Why would it be good?" Natalya asked softly.

"Well, she has helped me see reason. She's heightened my creativity. And she's helped me discover... other parts of m self, I guess... that without her and Cheyenne, I wouldn't have realized. They made me complete, see? But at the same time-"

"-you'd like to be more yourself," Natalya finished.

The Belarusian suddenly realized that the girl's problems had, perhaps, been her fault! After all, it was she who demanded the spell, one that changed society's view of a girl. And it looked as if Julchen suffered, while Francine, in fact, flourished.

Natalya was overcome with guilt and sympathy. She considered not performing the spell she had planned, but rethought it.

Perhaps a new start was exactly what Julchen needed, and it looked as if it would bring Francine down, which she definitely wanted to do.

Wait, was she taking JULCHEN'S side?!

 **End.**

 **I have a schedule now, so look for posts every Wednesday!**


	4. A New Start

**Don't own Hetalia.**

Chapter 4

A New Start

That night, Natalya decided to implement her plan. She drew out her spellbook and flipped to the right page.

She began to chant slowly, making sure not to fumble a word.

++This line break pleads forgiveness for lots of line breaks++

Julchen awoke the next morning, throwing off her sheets. As she swung her legs out of bed, she stopped. Something about her body was off balance.

She stood up and spun around a little. Yep, something was definitely wrong.

Catching sight of the mirror, she gasped. The first thing she noticed was the MUCH shorter hair. Then a definite lack of... chest. Then an altering of her thin, hourglass frame.

Julchen Beilshmidt stared at the mirror and tried to figure out why she looked like a boy.

Concluding that perhaps it was a trick, she then inspected her body firsthand. Yes, she didn't have boobs or long hair any more. So, either she hit her head REALLY hard, or magic turned her into a boy.

Judging by the girl's clothes in the closet, she was trans and had amnesia, or it was magic.

Let's go with magic.

Julchen promptly fell back on the bed and slept till six.

.

Upon reawakening, Julchen's situation had not changed. Well, now the only thing to do was go downstairs and figure this mess out with her brother. Luckily, she had her brother's tee shirt and her own gym shorts to wear, so at least she was wearing boy's things. She tramped downstairs and saw Ludwig.

"You're up late, Gilbert. Why did you sleep in?"

"Oh..." Julchen struggled for an answer. "There were some problems with a new student yesterday. And, well, I didn't want to think too much. Less time before school to think, the better."

Her voice was startlingly deep.

Ludwig looked at her oddly. "All right. Are you sure you're feeling well?"

"Um-" act normal, she reminded herself. She coughed as real sounding a cough as she could. "I'm *cough* fine."

"You don't sound fine," Ludwig grumbled.

Julchen waved her hand and checked the clock. Barely any time before school. Hazarding a guess and going on the fact that she was only three inches shorter, Julchen asked, "Can I borrow some of your clothes? Mine're all dirty."

"Fine," Ludwig muttered. "Don't mess up my room."

"I know," Julchen chimed, darting to the room and hurriedly picking out a decent outfit. Clothed properly, she endeavored to study her reflection.

She had the same red eyes and white hair, same pale skin. She glared at her reflection and smirked at it too: her expressions had not changed. She realized she looked too girly for a guy; something about the way she was standing, perhaps?

She shifted into a more even stance and looked at her reflection some more.

Her legs were more muscled, she mused, with less flare at the hip. Her arms were more muscled as well. As a girl, her arms and legs were muscled, but boy's muscles stand out more.

She realized that she would be faster and stronger. Excellent! That is a definite advantage.

She realized, however, that she was rather upset by the idea of staying like this forever. She used to be a girl, she thought, so shouldn't she stay a girl?

She needed to get to school and find if anyone else had been affected. She didn't know if her friends would have the same reaction as West. And what about her boyfriend?

Maybe he was turned as well and she now had a girlfriend.

Her boyfriend, she remembered, had magic. And so did Arthur. They would help out. (She had doubts about Lovino's help, unless Cheyenne was involved.)

Another glance at the clock told her she'd better run or she'd be late for school, so run she did, realizing the strength of her new body. She flew past the houses and arrived soon at the school.

"Hey Gilbert," someone called, and she registered that it was the same name West had used this morning. Her new name was Gilbert. Got that.

She did not see her friends in the ebb and flow of students, but remembered that she had first period with all three (and Natalya), so she would see them then.

++time skip back to when Francine wakes up++

Francine sat up, sliding out of the covers, and immediately shrieked. Actually, it came out as a deeper yell. Why? Because Francine had somehow lost a good length of her hair and her beautiful form.

"François!" her mother cried, storming into the room. "What's wrong?"

Francine realized that the use of a male name meant her mother thought she was male, and she didn't want her mother to think she was crazy, so she replied, "Just a bad dream."

"All right," her mother said, moving out of the room.

Francine assessed the situation. She truly hoped this was Arthur's idea of a prank and she would be returning to normal soon, by something in the back of her mind told her otherwise. She ignored it.

She then looked through her clothes. She couldn't go to school in girl's clothing right now, but she slipped a change of clothes into her backpack. She looked for something to wear.

Nothing. (Obviously.)

There was a tiny clothing store not far from here, and she could grab some clothes real quick before school, but what would she wear until then?

She finally decided on baggy pants and a tee shirt that looked semi-masculine, before grabbing her keys and money and calling, "Mom, I am going to the store, okay?"

"D'accord!" Her mother called back, so Francine left.

Once at the store, Francine quickly picked out a rather stylish outfit, and on second thought, got three different outfits. The voice in the back of her head told her that she might be a boy for a bit longer than a day.

.

Upon arrival at school, Francine looked around for Arthur. There he was. Francine walked over, calls of "Hello, François," preceding her.

"Bonjour!" she called, startling Arthur. He turned, and Francine was surprised to see him give her a halfhearted glare.

"Frog, 're you here to give me more ridiculous fashion advice? I don't want it. Goodness. Would you please just leave me alone?"

Francine gasped and mocked hurt, masking the real hurt she felt. "No, I am merely here to grace you with my presence!" And ask a question, she wanted to add but didn't.

She began to walk away, slowly, trying to understand this and realizing she wouldn't get any help from Arthur. She looked for Julchen and Cheyenne, but saw them nowhere, and instead sat on a wall and waited for the start of school.

++Going back to where Chey first wakes up, before school++

Cheyenne yawned and stretched, popping out of bed. Still half asleep, she attempted to put on a tee shirt.

It didn't fit.

Trying to shake the sleep out of her brain and assuring herself she was putting it on wrong or something, she looked at the mirror, blinked, and blinked again.

Then she shut her eyes tight, and saw nothing changed when she opened them.

Unsure of what to think of this, she decided to go with the flow and looked for something to wear.

She found some old faded jeans and a shirt so stretched out it was three sized bigger, and pulled both on, resolving to tell Francine and Julchen and get help shopping. Somehow it didn't register to her that she was a guy, only that her body was different.

Cheyenne bounded down the stairs, stopping in front of the kitchen. She grabbed the cereal and poured herself a bowl, eating it.

"Good morning, Antonio!" Cheyenne's sister yelled, coming down the stairs as well. Cheyenne nodded vaguely and told herself to answer to Antonio now.

.

At school, Cheyenne was her normal, cheerful self (in attitude.) She bounced to school, waved to people, called "hello," and reached the gates just as the bell rang and she was shoved to class.

+Now using 'he' etc. and new names, but remember that the BTT are still girls in their brains.+

Gilbert reached his seat just as the bell rang. He glanced to two random seats, from force of habit, but he couldn't remember... In those two seats were Antonio and François. Oh yeah, the ditz and the flirt.

François was popular throughout the school, the one every girl wanted for a date. (Many guys, too.) He tended to flirt with everyone and had gone out with too many to count.

Antonio, on the other hand, seemed like a complete idiot, and had the grades to match, but surprised everyone when April Fool's came around. Gilbert respected that slightly, and enjoyed watching the results of his pranks.

He remembered that April Fool's was, in fact, coming up. April Fool's was a day of peace between the three loudest and most annoying (to the rest of the school) members of the school, who seemed to perpetually hate each other but ultimately ended up the only ones free after a series of synchronized pranks befell the school every fateful 4/1. No one outside the trio, for on April Fool's Day they were the Bad Touch Trio, understood quite how they managed to put aside their differences for the day, but they always pulled it off. Spectacularly.

.

Gilbert made a mental note to start thinking of pranks after school. Today was March 27. Four days till April 1.

.

François leaned back in his chair, flipping his hair. He remembered pranking the school with Antonio and Gilbert last year, and wondered at that, because Gilbert wasn't the type of person to hang out with girly girls. Or girls at all, for that matter. And François definitely used to be a girl.

Gilbert plunked down in the chair next to him, glancing at him and puffing out a bit of air. Antonio followed, seeming to come into the classroom with a small part of his brain still out in the hall. Antonio was always like that.

The teacher started talking, and François barely listened. He was too busy thinking about what in heck had caused this, and also that Arthur seemed to hate him now. That was the worst part, he thought. Maybe he could get over being a guy, and even the name (François was not a name he particularly liked) but losing his boyfriend? That was not good.

François realized that bemoaning his fate would not help right now, and instead tried to figure out what had happened. Magic, obviously. Gender spell, obviously. Memory modification, perhaps? His memory hadn't been modified, he thought... Then again, it could have been modified and he really wouldn't know.

He needed Arthur's help, but he doubted he would be getting it. He somehow needed to find a way to win back Arthur's trust.

And there was the most pressing matter of now having to use the boy's bathroom at school. François highly doubted the sanitary quality of those.

.

Antonio bounced a little. He had finally figured out he was a guy, which meant using the boy's bathroom and not wearing dresses to school. Actually, he'd have to get new clothes. Darn.

Spotting Lovino, he chirped, "Hi Lovi!"

"Fuck off, tomato bastard. Stop annoying me."

Antonio gasped. Lovino didn't like him! That wasn't good. He will win back his tomate's heart.

However, something grabbed his attention quickly enough. The calendar said March 27, so he had to plan an April Fool's prank in four days.

.

Natalya sat quietly and watched Gilbert come to sit down for lunch. Gilbert looked at the Bad Touch Tree, shook his head, and walked away from the rather lonely looking tree.

Matthew was talking to someone when Gilbert started in his direction. As he walked, however, the someone said something to Matthew, making the other giggle. Matthew pressed a soft kiss to the someone's forehead.

Natalya could practically see Gil thinking "MY Birdie with some random girl?"

The boy walked away to eat his lunch silently.

Natalya regretted that, but she had to create the illusion of Matthew having a girlfriend. Matthew would realize the magic, release the memories, and then what? All of Natalya's hard work for nothing.

Natalya finished her lunch and waited for the bell to ring.

.

In fifth period, Gilbert slid into his normal seat. Next to him, the back corner, a girl sat where there was previously an empty seat.

It was THE GIRL. The one Matt was with.

"Hello," Gilbert growled at the girl. "Are you new?"

"Yeah, I was in the onstage welcome thing yesterday. Don't you remember?" the girl chirped, flicking the curl of hair that landed in her face. She was wearing, strangely enough, a bomber jacket over shorts and a tee shirt.

"I saw you with Matt," Gilbert stated bluntly, watching her face for a reaction.

"Of course, silly! Matthew is my close cousin! We din' come at the same time cuz I was a bit worried 'bout the move, y'know, new culture and everythin', and some other stuff, but yeah I moved here later than Matt. Oh, and I'm Amelia, BTW! Nice to meetcha!"

"Gilbert," Gilbert replied, blown away by the rate at which Amelia could talk. This girl obviously wasn't Matthew's girlfriend, so Gilbert smiled and shook Amelia's hand.

.

Natalya cursed in Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian. There went that.

No matter. It shall work out in the end.

.

After school, Gilbert raced down to the store to get clothes, passing West and shouting that he'd be home in a bit. Feliciano chuckled and mused, "Your brother is so different from you."

"Sometimes I even wonder if we are related," Lud answered.

"Yeah, but the one thing you do share is that you're so protective of those you love. It's sweet."

Ludwig blushed.

.

Gilbert had been shopping for boy's clothes before, but they were for Ludwig.

He realized he didn't know his size, so he made a guess and grabbed some clothes. Trying them on, they fit well enough.

Knowing Lud would question Gilbert returning with five days' worth of outfits in his arms, Gilbert attempted to stuff all of them in his backpack. He had to take the book out.

With that, Gilbert ran home.

.

When François returned to school the next morning, he saw Antonio wearing a pink shirt.

"Yeah, my sisters insisted. It was this or flowers," he laughed.

François got a weird sense of déjà vu, but ignored it and walked to class.

For the rest of the day, something pulled at the back of his mind, someone complaining about little sisters picking her outfit. He remembered the person being a close friend. However, he didn't remember her name or what she looked like, only those words.

"Yeah, my sisters picked my outfit. They insisted I wear this today."

.

François later walked along the edge of the field. He didn't like any sports except dancing, thinking them rough and uncultured.

Out in the field, Gilbert happily kicked up dust with the other boys on the football team. He darted in and snatched the ball, then hightailed it down the court for a pass to a friend.

The person scored, and the goalie walked up to Gilbert, swiping hair out of his eyes.

"Jeez, where'd you get the extra energy, Beilschmidt?"

"I'm just that awesome," Gilbert replied confidently.

"You gonna try the team?"

"Nah. I'm good with water polo. But if you want, I shall grace you with my awesome presence for pick-up games!" Gilbert smiled toothily to show he was joking around with the statement.

"You're welcome anytime with energy like that!" the goalie laughed.

The bell rang, and the football kids scurried off to class.

 **So, why did I use Francois? Well, that's pronounced Frahn-swah (or close enough) which doesn't sound like Francine, but Francis kinda sounds like Francine. Also, Francois is a cooler name.**

 **~Em**


	5. Pranked!

Chapter 5

Pranked!

After school, Antonio's mind was on pranks. His mind whirred with ideas, and some of them ought to be good.

So absorbed was he in studious thought that he didn't notice his sibling enter the house, until they hugged him.

"Tonio! Tonio!" Stella shouted. "I got a star sticker!"

"Good for you," Antonio managed. "Hey, I've got homework. Can I stay in my room for a while?"

"Does that mean you can't play?" Jacob whined.

"No. You've got three other siblings. Go play with them."

"All right..."

Antonio retreated to his room, and figured that he probably should actually work on homework today. He knocked it out in about two seconds, because there wasn't a lot to do, and then began drawing plans.

.

François was too worried to focus on pranks. What if he never changed back? Also, this wasn't- wasn't who he was supposed to be. He was supposed to be a girl. He really hoped this was a bad dream. First magic, now... this?

Also, with Arthur? Back to square one. Some friendships? Same. In fact, the entire school's view of him had changed. He was used to attention, but now it was as if a bad rumor had started about him. He couldn't see anything different, but he could practically feel the negative energy.

It would be almost worth it, François thought, to go to the private school his mother wanted, but this was a good school. And something else held him back, like the déjà vu with Antonio.

He'd stay. But he'd be looking for a solution.

.

Gilbert almost wanted to stay like this. Almost. However, he really was Julchen, and preferred Julchen to Gilbert. He felt like he'd lost something with the magic.

Anyway, pranks! Positivity is key, so Gilbert immediately started planning a prank.

.

April First dawned too soon for some frightened people. Their cries of "I'm not feeling well!" were ignored, and they were going to face the pranks.

It was never awful stuff, like staining clothes or injuring people. (Francois was very specific about the clothes.) However, all kids ended up being too distracted or messy to get any work done, so it was an unofficial free day.

The pranks started with simple stuff. Simple meaning lockers rigged to send a storm of paper all over the hall when opened, chairs duct-taped to the tops of desks, and wet (washable) paint on a teacher's seat. Some kids were laughing, some kids were on edge, and some kids were angrily trying to wade through a mountain of duct tape.

Then came strange stuff. In one class, all of the blinds on the windows banged shut at exactly the same time. All the students could find was a little wind-up toy and a lot of tangled string.

In one class, students were working on posters. They used washable markers for the color. Today, everyone picked up the markers, and the markers promptly exploded in color. The markers had been replaced with flimsy paper bags of ink.

In the boy's bathroom and the girl's, all the faucets had been rotated so that they sprayed water right into the person's face. Soon, there were colorful and/or wet teachers and students alike roaming the halls.

However, the grand finale was yet to come.

Safely in the hall, Gilbert, Francois, and Antonio readied the remote they had rigged. Every ceiling fan in the school responded to this remote, and there was a ceiling fan in every classroom.

"Ready?"

"Go."

Antonio had the honor of pressing the button, and he did so with rather more pomp and circumstance than needed. The fans in all the classrooms began to whir, and the wanted effect was acquired:

Glitter showered every student at World High.

Prank completed successfully, the three BTT members waited the thirty seconds for the end of school bell, then escaped at a high rate of speed. Their timing was perfect.

.

Okay. Natalya didn't entirely expect the BTT to be that good with pranks. Subsequently, she was the only magic user covered in glitter as all the others had brought up shields.

It was really hard not to mess up memories with this spell, so some aspects of their character would definitely seem over exaggerated. However, based on how well they had adapted, she thought they'd be fine.

 **It doesn't occur in this chapter, but my German friend went and changed "Grandpa" to "Opa." That's why it's like that.**

 **~Em**


	6. Unexpected Help

**Hi! I'm soooo sorry that I missed TWO posting days :( I thought, "I'm leaving on Wednesday, I can post before I go, right?" Haha, no. I left at 4:30 am on Wednesday.**

 **Anyway, here is the new chapter of Jealousy! (I don't own Hetalia.)**

Chapter 6

Unexpected help

Gilbert was sitting on a table, eating his lunch. (Yes, on it. His butt was on the table and his feet were on the bench.)

No one was complaining about this, because no one was around.

It was great that he wasn't weirdly popular because of a curse, but he'd just like to be back to normal.

.

Gilbert was absentmindedly walking along the halls when he slammed into someone. He said nothing and began to pick up his books, as he was in a bit of a bad mood and didn't feel like talking.

The other kid stared at Gilbert, narrowing his eyes.

Something's up with him, Vlad thought.

.

The next class in both Gilbert and Vlad's schedule was math. Gilbert was ignoring math in favor of doodling, and Vlad was ignoring math in favor of staring at Gilbert and trying to figure out what was wrong.

Vlad was a magic-user, and Romanian, as mentioned earlier in the story. He knew there were four other magic users in the school, but the Norwegian hated him, the Brit was stuck-up, the Italian was useless, and the last one he couldn't even remember. Therefore, he didn't really form ties with any of them.

His magic involved shape shifting and seeing people's auras, among other things. Auras told all about a person, if you could decipher them. Also, Vlad could only see someone's aura after he understood them.

Physical contact also could show an aura, and he had seen a flash of Gilbert's. Gilbert's was bicolor. This was unusual, unless the person had magic on them, so Vlad was determined to find out what was up.

.

"Hello. I'm Vlad."

"Hi..." Gilbert replied uncertainly. After all, he'd been eating lunch alone and this vampire dude just walked up to him.

Vlad decided to say it outright. "There's something wrong with your aura."

"My what?"

"Your aura. Everyone has this aura, like a mist covering their skin. Yours has two colors."

"All right. This says what?"

"I assume you have a curse on you."

"No duh, Sherlock."

"What?" Vlad was exceedingly confused by the statement. "What is a Sherlock?"

"He's a detective. Ignore that. I know I have a curse on me."

"You do? But you don't have magic!" Vlad blurted.

"I used to be Matthew's girlfriend. He saved me from my first curse."

"I can't even pretend that made sense."

"But it did." Gilbert fell over onto the table. "I used to be a girl. Then this stupid curse came, and I'm a guy and everyone's memories are altered. That includes you." Seeing that Vlad was about to interrupt, he held out a hand. "Let me finish. There used to be a curse on me to make everyone hate me, but Matthew cured it. I became good friends with Matthew, and then we started dating. Since he's best friends with Arthur and Lovino, I knew them too, but that's irrelevant. Anyway, one morning, I woke up and I was a guy. Everyone's memory was altered and everyone was calling me Gilbert. The end."

Vlad stared. "But you've always been Gilbert!"

"Nah. That's the fake memory."

"Who were you before? Your name might be a trigger."

"Julchen."

"Julchen, Julchen... Still can't remember you. But I remember hearing your name, so that's good. I've got a memory spell at my house; I'll try to bring it tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay!"

.

"So before you were Gilbert, what were you like?"

"I had long hair, I played on the girl's water polo team instead of the guy's, and... I was three inches shorter than I am now. My brother towered over me."

"That's funny. Your brother is Ludwig, right?"

"Yeah. I call him West. Hey, what kind of magic do you have?"

"It's with people, I guess. Seeing auras, and being able to shapeshift. I'm also good with memories. I just can't remember the spell right now. And how do you know about categories?"

"Matthew."

"Oh yeah."

"Hey, do you have siblings?"

"A younger brother. He's ten."

"Really young, then."

"Kind of. What's the age difference of you and your brother?"

"I'm older by two years."

"Oh. He looks older."

"He's taller."

"I guess that would be why he looks older." Vlad smiled. "I'll bet my little brother ends up taller, too."

"Oh, do you do sports?"

"No."

"Really?!"

"I'm just not the sporty type."

"What do you do in your spare time, then?"

"Magic." Vlad shrugged. "That and pranking people. I always get a kick out of dressing up like Dracula and walking down a wall."

"You do look the part," Gilbert laughed. "Then again, so do I. Thanks, I'm definitely going as Dracula sometime."

"Yeah, how do you have red eyes? Mine's from my magic, everyone with magic kind of spills magic onto themselves before they learn how to control it. There is the weirdest things, sometimes. Like that boy Arthur, his magic "froze" his hair so he can't trim it or grow it or anything."

Gilbert laughed. "I'm just albino, honest. And did Arthur's magic get his eyebrows too? Cuz, those eyebrows..." Gilbert trailed off, not having the vocabulary capacity to complete the sentence. Vlad nodded seriously.

A bell rang just then, startling both Vlad and Gilbert. The two red-eyed boys ran off to class, finishing with a hasty, "Bye!- See you tomorrow- same place!"

.

Natalya eyed the two boys warily. She hadn't heard the conversation, but she knew Vlad could sense auras, and that wasn't good for the purpose of keeping Gilbert isolated. She could tell he was the one to watch out for, as François was trying to win back Arthur (a lost cause) and Antonio was trying to fit with his new lifestyle (according to plan.)

Something must be done about Gilbert, she supposed, and came up with a temporary solution on the spur of the moment.

 **End of chapter**

 **~Em**


	7. Half Right, Half Wrong

**Hey…**

 **Here's your chapter. Better late than never, right?**

 **I don't own Hetalia.**

Chapter 7

Half Right, Half Wrong

Gilbert must have the worst luck with curses in the world, or the best, because so many have been put on him since so many have broken.

However, this one was temporary and Gilbert would never find out it was a curse.

.

Ludwig woke up at five fifteen, and was immediately struck by the lack of activity from the room to his left: Gilbert's room. Usually, if Gilbert wasn't awake by five, he was sick, and so Ludwig took care in being quiet as he entered his brother's room.

Sure enough, Gilbert was asleep, looking feverish and sweaty. Ludwig waited patiently for his brother to wake for a minute, then decided Gilbert looked a little green and got a bucket in case Gil threw up.

The Prussian boy woke at six, by which time Ludwig had done most of his project-work he was supposed to do today, and coughed. Ludwig wordlessly handed him the bucket and Gilbert promptly threw up.

"I'll go to school today to get your homework," Lud offered.

"That'd be great," Gilbert choked out, before throwing up again. "Oh, yuk," he complained.

"But I have to clean this up!" Lud joked.

"Oh, don't start. You know I-" retch "get sick less than you."

"Your immune system must be the product of all those fights you lost as a child, so you got dirt in all your wounds."

"I never lost a fight! Well, except to that psycho Hungarian with the frying pan. Him, I lost to once."

Their banter had kept Gilbert's mind off the fact that Ludwig was going to go get his homework, but as a lull in the conversation started, he remembered something important.

"I have to see Vlad today!"

"Who?"

"The vampire dude, the Romanian, the only other red-eyed and pale-skinned person in the school?"

"Oh, Vlad," Ludwig nodded in recognition.

"Right. You have to find him sometime before lunch-"

"I'm getting our homework and leaving anyway-"

"I wasn't finished. I was supposed to meet him at lunch. Tell him I'm sick and throwing up, and tell him I'll be there in a couple'a days when I get better. Hopefully this is only a 24 hour flu or something."

The last sentence was mostly talking to himself.

"I didn't know you hung out with Vlad."

"I didn't, until yesterday."

"What changed?" Ludwig asked, but Gilbert stuttered out an answer about just meeting and finding things in common. "Hey, Lud, you wanted me to make more friends."

"Hmm."

Ludwig left a short time later, after writing himself a note and signing it from Opa. Opa allowed the two boys to forge his signature on sick notes as he was often not present when they awoke.

Ludwig returned soon from school. "Your history teacher assigned a project today," he announced, plopping a small folder of papers on Gilbert's desk.

"That's nice. What did Vlad say?" Gilbert asked, sitting up on his bed with a laptop on his lap.

"He mentioned that he would continue to see if you came to school. He said he's looking forward to working with you. What project are you doing?"

"An experiment, if you will." Gilbert smirked, trying to remember what he was quoting.*

Ludwig sighed, knowing he would not get a straight answer out of his older brother.

.

Two days later, Gilbert felt well enough to go to school, so he did. Vlad was there, and at lunch to two sat at Gilbert's table.

"I got the spell!" Vlad cried excitedly.

"Great! Can you do it on me right now?"

"Yeah. Wait a minute..." Vlad rummaged in his bag. "Here."

The Romanian boy pulled out a thin stick of wood. He brandished it at Gilbert, who stood still.

Vlad began chanting under his breath, twirling the wand. When he was finished, Gilbert stumbled and crashed to the ground...

.

"Oof!" Gilbert squeaked. He put his hand to his head. "Wow, sudden vertigo. Imagine if all your memories randomly swapped themselves out."

Vlad eyed him curiously. "What changed?"

"It turns out, François and Antonio used to be my besties, and their names were Francine and Cheyenne. Cheyenne was dating Lovino and Francine was dating Arthur."

"But Arthur hates Fran... Francine!"

"Yeah, well. Anyway, you hung out with that Norwegian kid a lot."

"Lukas hates my guts."

"I know, everyone's relationships were changed."

"Oh, that's weird. Okay, I need you to hold this-"

Gilbert gingerly took the wand.

"Point it at me-"

Gilbert did so.

"Now say, 'Repetum Incantare.' Say it."

"Repetum Incantare," Gilbert repeated firmly.

Vlad too grew dizzy and quickly sat down at the table. "Thanks. Wow, that's really weird!" he commented, grabbing his wand and putting it away.

"Told ya," Gilbert laughed, assuming he had just performed the memory spell on Vladimir.

"So, I can't cancel the curse. But do you who can?"

"Arthur?" Gilbert guessed.

"How- oh. Your best friend's boyfriend. Hey wait, yesterday you said Matthew took a curse off you..."

"Nah. It was Mattie, Arthur, and Lovino combined."

"Yeah. That makes more sense. Anyway, Arthur's good with curses, so we need to get him his memory back."

"So we just wave the wand at him and say the spell..."

"Ahh, nope. You see, it's easier said than done. Every magic user puts up wards, and Arthur's are strong. Really strong."

"Best child at magic in the country..." whispered Gilbert, remembering what Matthew had once said.

"How'd you know- gah, I keep forgetting you were his friend. The magic is fighting back!"

"That's not good..."

"No, it isn't."

"How do we fix it?"

"Well, I'd say go and search out the one casting the magic, but... judging by the strength of the spell, I'll need someone else's help. Preferably Arthur's as that's his forte."

"And back to Arthur. All right. I got this. All I have to do is get Francine involved."

Vladimir paused, shook his head, and asked, "Who is Francine?"

"François is actually a girl, remember?"

"Is he... sorry, she... cross dressing?"

"No. Forget it."

"Why? What were you talking about?"

"Hey, I have a question," Gilbert stated suddenly. "Can you see your own aura? 'Cuz if you have magic on you, then the aura is bicolor, right?"

Vladimir looked shocked, and slowly stood up and backed away. "Who told you about auras? Is this a trap? Why am I even over here?"

"I give up," Gilbert sighed.

 **End of chapter**

 ***If you guys can figure this one out, review with the answer. Winner gets an imaginary cookie and a shoutout!**

 **~Em**


	8. Foraging On Alone

**…Clearly I have posting issues.**

 **Sorry guys. I'll get two chapters up for you.**

 **~Em**

Chapter 8

Forging on alone

"I guess this means I have to get Francine and Arthur's help myself," Gilbert said. He saw Natalya, suddenly, as she left the shade of a tree surprisingly close to where he and Vladimir had been sitting.

"Hey, Natalya. I don't suppose you've seen François recently? I need to talk to him."

As it happened, he was in the other lunch area, feeling a renewed hatred for Gilbert.

"Sorry, no," lied Natalya.

"Oh, okay then." Gilbert looked down at Natalya, who was sitting, and sat on a bench a short distance away. "How are you?"

"Fine, thank you," Natalya replied automatically.

"You're over by the trees of loner-dom too. How come?"

 _These trees used to be the tables of the Bad Touch Trio and the Magic Group,_ Gilbert knew, _but figured Natalya would know them as the trees of loner-dom._

"I just... Don't like people." _Gilbert still calls them the trees of loner-dom. Did Vlad not get the chance to perform the spell on him?_ Natalya thought.

"I see." Gilbert laughed. "That was me in middle school."

 _No it wasn't. You had Francine and Cheyenne as friends._

"You see, me and François hated each other, like seriously hated each other. Antonio, we didn't even know. And then, um, and then..."

 _Was Gilbert actually right? They became friends in high school? If he can't remember something, it was because the memories changed..._

"And then, see, this one April, I realized that the other pranks in the school were all orchestrated by François and Antonio. I knew then that I had to recruit them."

 _Blatant lie._

"But seriously, it's better, I found, just being able to talk to someone. Not open up to them, but just to talk, about sports or... news topics, or something."

"Perhaps so," Natalya mused, thinking back on how she'd never been able to just talk. Gilbert/Julchen, the archenemy of her story, was really the only one she'd ever talked to aside from her siblings.

"Bell's ringing in five minutes," Gilbert said, interrupting the silence that was almost long enough to be awkward. Perhaps he knew that Natalya needed some thinking time, as he walked away calmly. As he passed the building where a lot of people stood and chatted, he spied Antonio.

"Hey Chey!" he called before he could stop himself. To the boys, it sounded like a boy's name. Shay. But Antonio/Cheyenne caught the word.

"What the heck?" _He knows! Gilbert, the annoying trouble-causer? How does he know?_

.

It was going to be a long battle. Like really long.

Gilbert walked up to François. "Hey, François!"

"Why are you here, Gilbert?" François asked in his customary French accent.

"I... Uh... How do I say this. You see, there was this thing that happened... Well..." Gilbert didn't know it, but Natalya put a spell on him so he wouldn't talk- as a precaution.

"Gilbert, are you going to just stay there and not talk all day, or are you going to say something of actual importance? Somehow, I doubt the latter."

"No! See," here Gilbert paused, forcibly collecting his thoughts. "I know Francine."

"Quelle le-"

François's most likely rude next word was cut off by Gilbert. "Don't you remember me? Julchen? The one you used to hate but are now best friends with? I really need your help, because I can't reverse the memory spell. Vlad can, but he's back under the spell, so..."

"No. I don't remember. If this is a prank, I truly don't appreciate it, Gilbert."

"No! I swear we're in the same boat! Hey, do you remember the car accident when you broke your arm?"

"Yeah, but what did you have to do with it?"

"I carried you off the freaking street! How can you not remember that?!"

"I don't know what spell you've been put under," François spat, "but you're delusion-"

"GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT!" Antonio's cry echoed.

François looked at Gilbert smugly. "Now I know you're delusional. You managed to make Carrideo yell at you."

"How in hell did you know my name!?" Antonio demanded.

François started in shock. Antonio Carrideo had just yelled and cussed.

"Freaking crap," Gilbert stated with a calmness that was the opposite of what he felt. "Both of you are mad at me. Freaking great."

"What do you mean, your name?" François asked Antonio. "You're Antonio."

"Eh, no, my real name. Before the spell."

"Whaaaat? You had a spell put on you too?"

"Yeah. Gilbert knew my real name, so I'm not sure what's going on."

"But... But I had a spell on me too!"

"Then how does Gilbert know our names?"

Gilbert had been watching the conversation with hopeful interest, but now interrupted, "There was a memory spell put on everyone. We know that much. You know that much. However, you know that Romanian magic user named Vladimir? He came up to me, there was a conversation, and he performed a reverse memory spell on me. Now I remember that you are Francine and Cheyenne, and I am Julchen, and we were best friends. Vlad told me that Arthur could fix the spell, but then the magic fought back and he's back to hating us."

François nodded slowly. "I believe you, kind of. I'll help you. When I get my memory back, I'll know for sure."

"I remember your name," Antonio interjected, "like deja vu. So that must count for something, right?"

"Right." Gilbert began to march (quite literally march) off to find Arthur. He should be at the library...

.

The trio entered the library exactly like a clichéd movie: Gilbert in front with François and Antonio flanking him a step back. The three boys walked with purpose to the classics section.

No one. Darn.

Fantasy?

Nope...

Sci-fi ("Hey, doesn't he watch that Doctor What show?" François asks.)

Another fail.

Um... Biographies.

Nada.

Nonfiction?

Nein. Non. No.

And finally, the boys were wearily dragging themselves toward the mystery section and Arthur, while Arthur realized their amusing scramble across the library was coming to an end. A pity; he did enjoy watching them struggle.

"How may I help you?" Arthur asked, every ounce a gentleman and with a grin that just mocked them.

"We need to talk to you," Gilbert proclaimed.

"It appears you are doing that now."

"But this is a library and there're people around."

"Oh, dear, this is exactly what mommy warns people against. Don't go off with strangers."

"Please, Kirkland, spare the sass and give us a hand. Unless you want to sound like the madman you're rumored to be. This deals with magic."

"Oh?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess: this is some prank or dare, ask the crazy kid about magic."

"Gah." Gilbert sighed. What random secret could he expose now? Oh. Got it. "I don't think you understand. We need your help. See, I've convinced Mr. People Person of our predicament, and I could probably get Ice Boy's help, but that's not helpful is it? I need someone who works with curses, which you do."

"Well, you're right, I- hold on. You know about categories?"

François gave Gilbert an approving nod, and whispered, "Good job. I'm starting to believe you more now."

Gilbert returned the nod. "I know about categories. You know, you were the one who told me about categories. Well, Matthew told me and you told Francine, but same difference, right?"

"Francine? Who-"

"Me." François cut Arthur off. "Gilbert said 'curse', remember. The curse was that I- well, we were turned into boys."

Arthur frowned. "What were your names?"

"Cheyenne."

"Julchen."

"Hey, I remember Julchen's name!"

 _What? That's the third person to recognize my name!_

"But, Arthur, we need your help."

"All right. First, we need a memory spell."

"There's an issue," Gilbert interrupted. "Vladimir performed the spell on himself and me, but something was fighting back. He can't remember any more."

"Then we have to go to my house," Arthur stated. "I'm sure we'll have enough wards there."

.

After school got out, Gilbert was yet again walking toward his brother and brother's boyfriend. "LUD!" he yelled.

"Ja?"

"I'ma go with Arthur and François and Antonio for a project."

"Is this project strictly school related?"

"No but-"

"Then no."

"But Arthur's there!"

"So?"

"Promise, it doesn't involve pranks in any way, shape or form."

"You better not be lying, Gilbert."

"I'm not."

"I hold you to it."

"Thanksyeahseeyalater!"

Ludwig sighed. Feliciano tugged his arm.

"Hm?"

Feliciano's lips met his for a brief moment. "Bye, Lovi's probably yelling for me to come by now~!"

Sure enough, Feliciano's older brother came stomping over, shouting in Italian. Feliciano raced to join him.

"See you tomorrow, Feli."

.

"Whoa dude. That's a mansion."

"Yes, Gilbert, it is a mansion. Your powers of perception are incredible."

"No, not 'that's a mansion.' No, like 'that's really what a mansion should look like.' All ancient and British and bushes and stuff."

"Ah."

"Your family is rich, then."

"Successful family business."

"Magic-wise, who is in your family?"

"All of us, that's Mum, Dad, Alistair, William, Eoin and Patrick, and me, have magic. I have a lot more magic, and the sight, the ability to see magical creatures."

"Can I meet your brothers?"

"No. I suggest we avoid them at all costs."

"Meh."

Antonio stared at the gravel beneath his feet. "I still can't remember being friends with you guys."

"I cannot either," Arthur seconded. "Especially François. Now, it is set in my mind to hate you, as if we've been fighting and you've been annoying me all my life."

Gilbert's face split into a grin while François frowned sadly.

"What is it, Gilbert?"

"You and Francine are dating."

"Whaaat?!" Arthur stopped, shocked, with one foot inside the open door. "Dating? You're kidding."

"We were dating," François confirmed, flipping his shining hair over his shoulder.

Arthur raised his eyebrows and shook his head in an 'I can't believe you' way. However, he continued to walk up to the room, pointing out ones that they passed.

"Mum and Dad's room, Alistair's room, William's room, the twins' room, my room..."

"Where are we going?" asked François.

"There's a room that is warded to stop magic from leaking or anything. The circle is painted instead of just chalked. The circle itself actually holds no importance, it just shows where the limits of the containment field are."

"I can quite honestly say that I never knew that before," Gilbert said.

"Uh... Yeah. Anyway, here we are!"

Arthur ushered them inside the room. It was sparsely furnished, consisting mostly of a pained circle on the solid wood floor and an oak dresser on one side of the room. In fact, other than the four lights tucked in the high corners, there was nothing else in the room.

"Safety when using magic is important," Arthur explained. "The best way to make sure there's nothing to interfere is to have nothing there."

François nodded, then moved to step inside the circle. "Wait!" Arthur cried.

"Why?"

"I have to set up some of the spell first," Arthur explained, closing the door. "That's the area where magic is. If something goes wrong, it will explode harmlessly in the circle."

François nodded. "How can we help you?"

"Well, for the memory spell, all I need is a book and my wand." Arthur collected those things from the drawers, then handed the wand to Antonio and began leafing through the book. "Counter-curses... M... M E... M E M... Memory!" Arthur muttered.

"So you just perform it on us now?"

"Yep!"

Arthur pointed the wand delicately at Antonio, than began chanting and drawing a shape in the air. Gilbert recognized it as the same thing Vladimir had done. That done, Arthur pointed it François and said, "Repetum Incantare."

"I can do the spell on you," Gilbert offered, so Arthur handed him the wand. Gilbert repeated the spell and handed the wand back to Arthur.

"Why aren't you guys falling over of dizziness?" Gilbert asked.

Arthur explained, "I added a slower release. Our memories are coming back over the course of one to three minutes."

"Cool..." Gilbert breathed, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and thinking that Arthur really should have chairs in here.

Finally, Arthur stood and smiled. "We can get to curing the spell now, I think," he commented.

"So... What do we do?" Antonio asked.

"We look up the gender-changing curse," Arthur explained.

The trio helped him search the big book for the needed spell. Once they found it, Arthur commanded them to stand inside the circle.

"This is going to be a really large drain on my magic," he warned, "but I don't think we can risk going and getting anyone else. In all likelihood, I'll pass out and won't come to for a while."

Gilbert nodded seriously.

"Actually-" Arthur sighed. "Once the spell is finished, if I pass out, just go around the house looking for William. He's the only one who will be of any help."

"Got it," François said determinedly.

 **And here we end.**


	9. Free

**Sorry about the mixup last chapter! It's fixed now.**

 **~Em**

Chapter 9

Free!

Arthur began chanting, his face and words impassive. Gilbert, Antonio, and François had their eyes shut.

As soon as Arthur finished the spell, he collapsed. Julchen blinked and stooped to pick him up.

"A little help, Cheyenne?" she asked, glancing at the tan girl.

"No problem," Cheyenne replied, helping Julchen lift Arthur's body. Together, the two girls moved Arthur out of the room while Francine held the door open.

"Now what?" Julchen asked, helping set Arthur down so he was supported by Francine. Francine hugged her unconscious boyfriend happily.

"We go find William," Cheyenne shrugged.

.

The two left Arthur with Francine and began to walk slowly down the corridor. "Hello? Anyone there?" they called.

Presently, a red-haired man stuck his head out the doorway of a room. "Who're yeh and why're yeh here?"

"Julchen and Cheyenne, Arthur was helping us with a curse," Julchen answered promptly. "Are you William?"

"Nah, he would be downstairs. In the dining room."

"Thank you," Cheyenne said.

The girls walked down to the dining room, where they found a boy with curly red hair and dark emerald eyes doing homework. He looked much alike the boy they had met just moments ago, and shared the same sturdy but not particularly muscled build with him. Julchen found it hard to believe that he was elegantly built, blonde haired Arthur's brother.

"Are you William?"

"William I am."

Julchen rolled her eyes at the bad wordplay.

"We're supposed to get you," Cheyenne explained. "Arthur says so."

"You're friends with Arthur, huh?" William asked.

"Yeah. He was helping us out, and..."

"He passed out," William finished.

"Yeah."

"All right."

Arthur's readheaded brother slowly got up from his spot at the table, writing down a final letter on his paper. He followed the girls upstairs.

"Oh! Who's this?" he asked, surprised, when he spotted Francine calmly supporting Arthur's weight.

"I'm Francine," Francine answered. "Arthur's girlfriend."

William stared at her. "Artie has a girlfriend?"

"Yep."

"And here, I was so sure he was going to date what's his name that he kept ranting about. François."

Julchen burst out laughing, startling William. "What's funny?"

"Well, there was a spell on us-"

"The one you needed help with."

"Yeah. It turned us into guys. Francine was François."

"So I was right! Alistair was pretty sure the 'relationship' was going to end in emotional breakdown, so he owes me a twenty."

"You bet on your little brother's relationship?" Cheyenne asked, eyebrow raised.

"Why not? If we ever get too out of hand, Arthur just shoots a couple of embarrassing spells at us, so it rarely goes over gentle fun."

Cheyenne shrugged. "But what are you going to do about Arthur?"

William shrugged. "Wait until he comes to, then threaten to force-feed him Alistair's food if he ever drains his energy to the point of passing out again."

"But... Arthur said you would help him."

"In our household..." William sighed. "Help means guarding the person and their stuff while they're out. When you're unconscious because of a spell drain, any wards attached to your 'live magic', or the amount of magic you have to perform a spell at any given time, go away."

The girls nodded in understanding.

Arthur's head suddenly turned, and William crouched down and pulled him into a sitting position. Arthur slowly opened his eyes.

"Did it work?" was the first thing out of his mouth.

The three girls nodded.

"Good."

He grabbed William's offered arm and pulled himself upright. "Remind me to never drain my magic that much again," he sighed, pressing a hand to his head where he could feel a headache coming.

"Believe me, I wish I could," William commented.

"Thank you Arthur!" Francine exclaimed, hugging him. Arthur returned the hug rather weakly.

"So," William interrupted, "you have a girlfriend, Arthur?"

Francine smiled nervously.

"I've told you already- wait no- hold on- lemme go get something-" Arthur stammered, struggling to break free of William's grip on his shoulders.

"Is it magic related?"

"Yeah," Arthur muttered.

"Honestly Arthur! Do I need to put a magic restraint on you?"

"I'll just break it," Arthur said defiantly.

"Not if I ask Alistair to do it."

"Oh. Yeah."

Arthur yawned, leaning against his older brother.

"Tired, are we?" William taunted, but in a joking way. It was fairly obvious he really did care that his little brother was exhausted.

"Shut up! I'm not tired! Yawning provides oxygen to your brain."

"Hey, listen, Artie. Your girlfriends can tell me about the spell, I'll get Alistair's-"

"Eoin!"

"Eoin's help, and you go lie down."

Arthur nodded, and started to walk to his room, but his knees buckled. William sighed and picked Arthur up, depositing him on his bed. The girls followed William down to the table.

"So, about that spell..."

Julchen explained, "A memory spell and gender-change spell were put on us, so that we kinda reset our lives according to what that person wanted it to be. We undid the gender spell, but we only did the memory spell on us."

"Oh, I get it," William said, nodding. He stood up and walked over to a different room, where yet another readheaded child was sitting. "Hey, Eoin..."

"I'm Patrick. Go away."

"No you're not, you liar."

"We're identical twins!"

"And yet, Patrick would never wear yellow."

Eoin glanced at his clothes, saw he was wearing a yellow shirt, and swore. "All right, William. I'll interrupt what I was doing to help you."

"Not just me," William defended. "Also your unconscious baby brother, these three girls, and Arthur's school."

"Arthur's unconscious again?" Eoin cried. He swore again. "That boy..."

"We need you to help with the memory spell," Cheyenne chimed.

"Memory spell?"

"Memory counter-spell," William clarified. "There is apparently a mass spell on everyone."

"I'm sorry, no-one has broken this spell? Excuse me if I don't believe you."

"Nearly everyone remembered my old name," Julchen offered.

"Oh. All right then."

William handed Eoin the book, and he began flipping through it. "Where's my wand?" he asked.

"It's your wand..."

"Oh! I know!" Eoin exclaimed, closing his eyes and reaching out into thin air. The trio gasped as Eoin's hand disappeared into the air as if reaching into an invisible box.

"Here."

Eoin pulled a wand out of his box.

He chanted the spell swiftly, and William did as well with a wand he had strapped to his belt.

"Eoin's magic is with other people's and other things' magic," William explained. "He can boost other people's magic up a lot, or dampen it. He can also interact with the magic contained in the empty space between molecules, bending it to create a pocket."

Eoin nodded. "If you need me again, I'm not here."

.

"So, when is Arthur going to wake up?" Francine asked.

"I'd say... four hours," William replied.

"Four hours!?"

"Arthur may have a lot of magic, but when he crashes, he crashes hard. He can be out for weeks. When I or Eoin or Alistair do a spell that takes all our energy, we're out for two days tops. That's like for a spell that should have probably taken both of us. But Arthur, since he can do massive spells, he does massive spells and gets the effects of them. That's kinda why we're so protective of him. You saw how Eoin wanted to come as soon as I said Artie was unconscious. We're afraid he'll overdo it one day and we won't have enough magic to counteract that."

Cheyenne nodded. "He's kinda the odd one out in your family."

"Yeah. While the rest of us have red hair and are fairly strongly built, Arthur is tiny, and he has blonde hair and brighter green eyes than any of us."

"You have a very sweet family," Cheyenne sighed.

"Are you kidding? You haven't met Alistair yet. Or Patrick, for that matter. Patrick is bonkers, not a bad kind of insane, but the kind where he is hyper and kind of a mad scientist. Alistair's very... depressing to be around. He's kinda scary and most definitely the oldest in our family."

"...interesting," Julchen managed.

William glanced at the clock. "Hey, you don't have to stay here. I can take care of him when he wakes up. He'll be at school tomorrow."

"All right then," Cheyenne agreed, "we'll leave him to you. C'mon guys."

"Wait!" Julchen cried. "Our family thinks we're guys!"

"...and the school does too," Francine added. "Oh god. What do we do?"

"We put an illusion on you," William said. "You'll look like a guy, but that's all. In fact, if you can concentrate, you'll be able to see through the illusion."

"Simple spell sounds good enough to me!" Julchen exclaimed. "How do we do this?"

"We get Patrick."

.

"Eoin! Do you know-"

"I'm Patrick!" Eoin exclaimed stubbornly.

"Great! Come on then, we need you to do an enchantment!"

"Fudge. Fine, I'm Eoin. Patrick's in our room."

"Ah-ah-ahhh," William admonished. "I'd like an apology for deceiving us."

"Sorry," Eoin muttered.

"Eoin! Be sincere!"

"Go away!" Eoin shouted, thoroughly annoyed and embarrassed.

William laughed and led the girls to Patrick's room.

.

"Patrick?" William asked, stepping into the seemingly empty room.

"Up here!" a new voice replied, and their eyes were drawn to Eoin's exact replica. He was dressed head to toe in green, including a little hat that he was clutching to his head with one hand. It would have fallen off otherwise, as he was hanging upside down from the ceiling by his feet.

"I have sticky feet!" Patrick proclaimed.

"Hey, come down. I need your help."

Patrick nodded and began walking to the wall. Each step involved a wrenching of the foot away from the ceiling, and replacing the foot closer to the wall. When Patrick reached the wall, he turned his feet to a rather uncomfortable-looking angle and continued to step down the wall.

"You need to cast an illusion to make them look like guys," William stated, straight and to the point.

"A little illusion, or a big illusion, or a full spell?"

"A little illusion, please."

Patrick dusted his hands, tugged off his green silk gloves, dusted his hands again, and without warning, sent a large orb of green magic at the girls. It hit them with a gentle, cool feeling, then went on to encompass their entire beings. It faded to the finished spell.

Francine, Julchen, and Cheyenne inspected the spell before nodding their approval.

"Thank you, guys!" Francine chirped. "Au revior!"

The two boys answered simultaneously in different languages, making the reply indiscernible. Francine, Julchen, and Cheyenne left the house.

Once outside, Cheyenne turned to her friends. "If anyone asks, Arthur was helping us conduct a survey on the kids at school."

"What survey?" Francine asked.

"A survey about how many kids consider themselves good at a certain subject," Julchen suggested.

"And why?"

"Because."

"Extra credit," Cheyenne inputted.

"Okay."

"D'accord."

"See you tomorrow!" Cheyenne called, waving as she walked away.

"Oh, be careful to stay true to your character!" Julchen reminded.

"Oops," Francine commented. "J-Gilbert Beilshmit is very annoying."

"Awww, thanks, François! Before we depart, please let me say how weird it is seeing you as a dude."

Francine shrugged, and began to walk away.

 **End.**


	10. Boys Are So Weird

**It's short, but it's on time.**

 **I don't own Hetalia.**

 **~EM**

Chapter 10

Boys are so weird

Julchen arrived home. She slung her backpack down onto the floor, then followed the smell emanating from the kitchen.

Ludwig was kneading dough with deadly concentration and precision while something simmered on the stove. The otherwise immaculately clean kitchen had one cutting board with one knife and chopped herbs on it, and one floury work station for Ludwig's bread.

Julchen was about to surprise attack hug her brother when she stopped, doubting the hug. Did brothers hug each other? Did Gilbert hug his brother?

Aah, whatever. Julchen shouted, "Surprise attack hug!" as she wrapped her arms around Ludwig.

"Ah!" Ludwig shouted in reply, accidentally squishing part of the bread. "Gilbert! You made me squish the bread!"

"Pssh. I got it. Go away." Julchen shoved her brother to the other side of the room and began to knead the bread.

"Oh, by the way, hello little brother."

"Hello Gil."

The day passed by quietly, with a dinner and leftovers stuffed in the fridge before both siblings spent the rest of the night doing homework in their rooms. Julchen got out her laptop and messaged Cheyenne and Francine.

.

Julbird2000: all right?

tomatogirl: all right.

French Beauty: we better get this mess figured out soon.

tomatogirl: being at home was bad enough. what of at school?

French Beauty: we can do this

all we gotta do is remember to respond to our names.

Jubird2000: we can't talk to each other. we're supposed to hate each other

tomatogirl: oh no! You're right!

Julbird2000: we'll have to have a secret meeting spot.

French Beauty: how about the library?

tomatogirl: perfect!

Julbird2000: right then guys, see you in library tomorrow!

French Beauty: Bonne nuit!

tomatogirl: buenas noches!

Julbird2000: Guten nacht!

.

"Hey, Gilbert?" Ludwig called softly, rapping on Julchen's door.

"Ja, Lutz?"

"Guten nacht."

"Guten nacht, mein bruder."

++line break, I'm a line break. And some time passing. Line break!++

Julchen woke up on time the next day. She put on some of the boy's clothes she had, and slipped a set of her old clothing deep within the black hole of her backpack.

She got to school just as the bell rang. The time from first bell to lunch was spent pretending she hated Franci-François and Antonio. As soon as lunch started, she raced up to the library. She had a lunch in her backpack, and if she wasn't allowed to eat in the library, she was going to anyway.

.

Eating in the library was allowed.

.

Julchen whipped out her phone. "At the auto bio section" she typed.

"Will b there in 2 sec" Cheyenne replied.

"Coming" Francine replied.

There was an interesting looking book about some German guy that Julchen was reading as she chewed carrots and waited for her friends. Soon, two boys joined her in the section.

Julchen did a double take. "Oh yeah. Hey, guys," she whispered.

"Hey!" they replied, settling themselves down to eat as well.

"So-" Francine began, but at that moment, a red-eyed boy came skidding into the section.

"I found you guys!" Vladimir exclaimed.

"You were looking for them?" Arthur asked, striding into the section as well.

"Hi Arthur!" Francine greeted.

"Their auras-" Vlad tried.

"Do you know the memory spell?" Arthur asked Vladimir.

"Uh... I have it in my backpack."

"All right. Can I have it, and I'll perform it on you?"

"I... guess... You know what, no. I want an answer first. I feel like I already told Gilbert that his aura was odd. But it's kinda hard to remember. And these two, their auras are also strange."

"Hey, I just remembered!" Arthur exclaimed, quite obviously not listening. "You would be a great help for the memory spell!"

"Uh, what?" Julchen asked.

"See, because his magic has to do with people, he'd boost the spell," Arthur explained.

"Wait, what spell?" Vladimir demanded.

"There's a memory spell on everyone," Cheyenne interrupted.

"It was focused on us, so that everyone would think we were guys," Francine continued.

"We need your help to undo the spell," Julchen finished.

"You haven't convinced me," Vlad stated.

Julchen thought about how everyone seemed to remember her name, and quickly inputted, "Julchen- my name's Julchen. I'm a girl. They're both girls. Francine and Cheyenne."

"Julchen? Oh, Julchen! We already did the memory spell!"

"Yep, we did."

"All right, when can we do this memory spell for everyone?"

"Today?" Francine suggested hopefully.

"No," Arthur said. "I need to get my energy back up, because I want to help."

"How long will that take?"

"Umm... we have to perform a counter-spell for a very strong spell on every person any of you know. Not only will I have to be at full strength, so probably a week, we're going to need William, Patrick, Eoin, Matthew, Lovino, Lukas the Norwegian kid, and..."

"Them, you, and I are the only magic users in the school," Vlad reported.

"Why not your brother Alistair?" Cheyenne asked curiously. "And your mom and dad?"

"Alistair wouldn't help. Mum and dad's magic actually deals with something entirely different, so they'd be useless."

"All right," Julchen said. "I think I can get Matthew. Cheyenne and Francine can get Lovino. Arthur and Vlad, that leaves you to get Lukas."

"Let's do this!" Francine agreed.

 **End Chapter**


	11. Quest

Chapter 11

Quest

"Hey, Lovino," Francine called, looking very natural as she walked over. In fact, she was following a carefully scripted plan.

"F*** off, Fran-swoh."

"I need your help," Francine continued matter-of-factly.

"Tch. Why should I help you? Why do you need me, anyway? Go ask someone else."

"Uh, no. Your help. Not anyone else's."

Lovino raised an eyebrow.

"Listen, because I do not particularly like saying this. I need your help, you specifically. I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone; I'll get my friends to leave you out of their pranks. You just have to help me."

"What do you need specifically?" Lovino asked.

"I need your magic."

+break+

"Let me guess: you need my help with some icy spell that you discovered."

"Hey, that's pretty close!" Vlad encouraged.

"Shut it, Vladimir. It's a bit more serious than that," Arthur warned. "You're going to have to trust me to do a memory counter-spell on you. Do you know the effects?"

"Memory counter-spell? I have no memories altered."

"Trust me," Arthur begged.

"All right. Only because I know it will not harm. I'm changing my wards to let the one spell in."

Arthur began to chant, waving a wand he produced out of his backpack. When the spell was over, Lukas flinched and threw his arm out to steady himself.

"Oh my god," he breathed.

"All right there, Luke?" Vladimir asked.

"Don't you dare call me Luke, batman," Lukas spat.

"I'm not really a vampire!" Vlad complained.

"I'm assuming you're going to need all the help you can get," Lukas started, to see Vladimir and Arthur nodding furiously. "My brother has some sort of magic. I could make him come."

"Please do," Arthur agreed.

+break+

"Gilbert?" Matthew asked, as Julchen settled across from him at his table.

"Matthew. Hi. So, stuff's happening and it involves you. I'ma tell you everything. It's gonna sound nuts. I already sound nuts. But you should be used to nuts, with your magic, right? Just listen and hopefully I make sense.

"There was a spell placed on three girls, turning them into guys. The entire school was placed under a secondary spell. That spell was so everyone would remember them as guys. It was a memory spell. It was really strong. If you want to know how strong, look at me. I was one of those girls.

"My name is Julchen. Most people have remembered the name. However, no-one's remembered anything else. The spell is really strong.

"That's where you come in. Arthur, Vlad, or someone can perform the spell on you. Then, all you magic users get together and perform the spell." Julchen stopped, looked at Matthew, and added, "Sound legit?"

"Julchen...what a pretty name. I feel like I know that name."

"Yeah. Once you get the memory spell, I'm sure you'll figure it out quick, birdie. So, trust me?"

"Yeah."

+break+

Vladimir and Lukas quickly performed the spell on Matthew and Romano.

"It's a good thing you know him so well," Francine whispered to Cheyenne. She had managed to get through the meeting with credibility.

"I am his girlfriend."

Their subject matter was talking loudly at that moment. "Wait, you said you did the spell already! So why do they still look like guys?"

"Patrick put an illusion on them so no-one at school asked questions."

Romano glared at Cheyenne for a moment, then nodded, apparently satisfied.

"All right," Arthur announced. "I'll be back up to strength in a week. This same day next week, are you free to meet me after school?"

"Yes," they all chorused.

"All right then. Remember to act like you were before the memory counter-spell."

They nodded and parted ways.

++line break in which a week passes++

"You have a nice house," Vlad commented, walking through Arthur's mansion.

"Thank you."

They arrived at the magic room, and Arthur handed the book to Lukas. "Hey, while I look for my brothers, can you find the spell?"

"Sure," Lukas muttered.

Arthur walked downstairs. "Will, Patrick, Eo?"

Patrick stuck his head out of his room. "Eoin and I were working on homework."

"I need you guys for a spell."

"All right."

William, meanwhile, walked out of his own room. "I'm here, Artie."

Arthur huffed. "You guys... nicknames..." He stomped upstairs, not looking back to see if his brothers were following him. They were.

Arthur, William, Eoin, and Patrick arrived in the room. Collected in the room were the Bad Touch Trio, the four Kirkland brothers, Vladimir, Lovino, Matthew, Lukas, and Lukas's little brother Emil.

"Hi Emil."

"Hi Emil."

"Bonjour Emil."

"Hola Emil."

"Hallo-"

"Hi everyone," Emil interrupted forcefully, apparently sharing his brother's introverted attitude.

"How are we going to do this?" Lukas asked.

"Most of us will just chant the spell, right?" Arthur answered. "And Eoin can just do his magic boosting thing."

"All right," everyone replied, taking their places leaning against walls or cross-legged on the floor.

Arthur once again conducted the chant, after making sure everyone had a copy of the spell to read.

As soon as he finished, the door crashed open. William immediately stood to face Alistair.

"What is going on here?" Alistair asked, eyebrows raised.

"Memory counter-spell."

"Lemme see it."

Will handed the paper to Alistair, who read over it.

"All right then," and he was gone.

William turned back to them and shrugged.

"Well, it worked," Arthur commented. "Patrick, can you please take the illusion off?"

Patrick held his hand out, and a dot of green flew towards the girls. It returned to him with a big green orb of magic, and the illusion was gone.

The Bad Touch Trio cheered and hugged one another. "We're free!"

"Won't it weird everyone out, that they all randomly got their memories rearranged?" Emil asked.

"That's the power of the human brain, little brother," Lukas explained. "They'll think it was a dream."

"Seriously?"

"There's something in other people's brains, that if they don't get an explanation for the magic, they just kind of forget it. It's odd but useful."

"Huh."

By now, everyone had started to walk away, back to their houses. Francine, Cheyenne, and Julchen walked back to Francine's house so Francine's mother could give Cheyenne a ride back. Julchen was able to walk.

"See ya tomorrow, Francy-pants!"

"Bye, Jules!"

"Bye!"

 **End.**

 **So I know I've been doing a bad job keeping up with my schedule. I've decided to post all the chapters right out.**

 **~Em**


	12. Connections are Finally Made

Chapter 12

Connections are finally made

There was a knock at Francine's door. She opened it sleepily.

"Hi Francine!"

"Julchen?"

"Can we walk to school together?"

"Sure! Let me get my bag!"

The two girls arrived at school five minutes early. They chattered until the bell rang, then walked to the classroom. Just as the late bell rang, Cheyenne darted in and slid into her seat. Her hair was uncharacteristically messy.

"Chey, lemme redo that braid," Francine offered, so she switched spots with Julchen in order to reach Cheyenne's hair. "Why were you late?"

"Slept in." Cheyenne shrugged.

"Lazy, lazy Cheyenne," Julchen inputted, laughing.

In all of their classes, the teachers really started piling on the assignments. Natalya was kept busy by an extremely bossy work partner she managed to share two classes with, and one teacher who was really on her case. Since she couldn't even pretend to play an instrument well enough for the stingy Austrian music director, she skipped the orchestra class the trio had and instead was taking Spanish.

She didn't really get to take note of the fact that the Bad Touch Trio was back until lunch, where she found her normal table occupied by the magic group and the next tree over hosting three boys and three girls.

Gathering every ounce of social skills she had, Natalya walked over to the Bad Touch Tree. "Hello!"

"Hello, Natalya!" Julchen replied around a mouthful of food.

Matthew, Arthur, and Lovino stared silently.

"Why are you over here?" Cheyenne asked.

"I just wanted to say hi," Natalya answered.

Julchen offered, "Do you wanna come sit with us?"

Lovino, Arthur, and Matthew cringed. Natalya accepted. She sat down and pulled out her lunch.

Vladimir walked over. "Arthur, we need your help."

Arthur stood up and walked over. "I know something's wrong. I-" he started.

"No, it's more than that. She's highly magical, although not as much as you, and she can curse someone by words or, in a pinch, by imagining what she wants the curse to be. There might be more, but that's what I got."

"How do you know this?"

"Collective knowledge and sources."

"Of course."

Arthur walked back to the table and sat down. There was some idle conversation, which Natalya was taking part in.

"There was a bird, with red and gold feathers, that was talking to me..." Natalya was describing last night's dream in vivid detail. Arthur frowned. The memory spell should have literally taken place of any dreams. Unless... Oh dear god.

Arthur hissed into Matthew's ear, "It's HER!"

"What?" Matthew breathed back.

"The mystery spellcaster. Natalya wasn't affected by our spell, which means she is the one who-"

"Oh maple."

"Yeah."

Arthur stood up swiftly and decisively. "Natalya," he called. "Were you the one who put the spell on them?"

"S-spell?" Natalya stuttered.

"You know what I'm talking about."

Just like that, Natalya gratefully dropped her facade and stood up.

"Oh, I suppose I do. By the way, I'm impressed it took you this long. Well then," Natalya started, pacing a circle, "We'll have to settle it, because you want to protect your girlfriend from more magic but I simply am making life better."

"Better for you, you mean."

"Oh, no. Better for me and better for Julchen. Jul, why don't you tell what you told me?"

"You were talking to her?" Francine demanded.

"The day after I told Opa about Lud and Feli, I was out running early in the morning. Natalya saw me, and... I guess we related there. But," Julchen whipped around to stare at Natalya, "You wanted our lives ruined, and you came out in the cold to talk to me at five a.m. and have a chat to the point where we pretty much bonded?"

"I'll admit, that wasn't my idea at first. However, when I saw your side of things, I decided to change the spell. I planned to give you a fresh start and Francine a setback."

"But I'm not a guy, and I don't think I could ever actually be a guy!"

"It's not right, because it's not us," Francine chimed.

"Also, you messed up on our memories a bit. We had to pretend to be something we weren't," Cheyenne added.

"Fact remains, however, you undid my spell twice. That means you're stronger than I am, which means you could destroy my family and I can't have that. So-"

"I would never destroy your family!" Matthew protested.

"Come on. You liar." Natalya's voice had acquired venom. "Everyone does."

She shot a bolt of magic at Arthur before anyone could respond. It was a dark indigo-grey lighting strike that split and skittered around Arthur's body as soon as it touched him. Arthur did nothing, only stared at Natalya. "My wards alone are stronger than your magic."

Natalya shot another bolt of magic at him, which again dissipated over his skin.

"Natalya, may I remind you that we're at a high school?"

Natalya glared. Julchen looked around. It did look really comical, two teenagers glaring daggers at each other. It was enough to offset everything she knew about magic, so at this point, the lightning was nothing in her mind. That and the fact that it did not injure Arthur managed to form the impression that Arthur wasn't in danger.

Natalya stared at Arthur for a moment, before narrowing her eyes and slinking away.

++Flashback++

"Hello, Natalya."

The sound was so abrupt. Natalya spun, arms flung across her chest. The purple spirals collecting around her whizzed outwards once more- they did so whenever she turned, which was often, because people loved startling her. Especially magic-user Terranes Gebson.

"I said," the voice interrupted, from behind her this time, "hello."

Natalya spun.

"Face me, Natali~ "

That did it. The teasing, the prodding, and annoying nickname all drove her insane. She spun around to attack him to find she didn't need to- the spirals had flung out so wide they hit him full in the chest.

The boy stumbled and fell, and he wasn't moving when Natalya made a quick escape.

Later, he awoke, but with a want for revenge.

+Skip+

Natasha she screamed Natasha but the earth rise up up swallowing her sister oh god no her brother she is running into the house anything no nothing here why are we ice magic because I can't counteract this they're going to die

One chance the old witch down on the lane go to her it's a long run down the lane so she needs to think of something anything else than the earth pouring into her sister's open mouth filling her lungs and (oh, oops...)

-Hi

-Hello dearie

-Please my family they're drowning in the dirt oh god

-Breathe

-Please please help help please help

-Breathe girl lead me to them

-Come please quick oh the earth it's swallowing them

-What is your name

-My family is my brother and sister Ivan and Natasha

-No sweetie your name it'll be all right

-N ah Natalya

-Natalya walk slower

-But they're dying

-How close are we oh I see that house there

Natasha and Ivan were inside, waiting, waiting as sand swirled and solidified around them,

-Here please help

-Natalya dearest it'll be all right they're not going to die

-Are you sure

-Yes breathe...

-You can solve this? They're not going to die?

-They're not going to die, Natalya. I can counteract the spell. This is Gaia Gebson's magic, I believe. That family is one of the many magic families who believe in their bloodline. They won't stop hounding you until they think you've learned your lesson. What did you do?"

"I, ah, the purple, it spun out and I hit Terranes- oh god is it my fault?"

"No, no, though you must learn to use your magic. Your brother and sister have it too. If you let the magic run wild, it will end up causing problems."

"What do I do?"

"The only thing I can do, the best thing for you, is I can let you start over- from children. New life, new year, new memories for them but this single memory will stay with you forever."

"Yes, yes please," Natalya begged. "What must I do?"

"I shall take a tiny, inconsequential amount of your magic, but your memories will be the true price. First, you will forever remember this, and you will try your hardest not to repeat this, but you will anger the one stronger than you, and you won't be able to forget having made that mistake before. Second, your magic now is very strong, but if I remove a tiny shred, you will never regain that magic. You will never become the strongest. It will not be possible."

"So I am destined to meet someone stronger than I am, and the most I can do is prepare to not create this mistake again?"

"Good luck."

+End Flashback+

So why was Natalya challenging Arthur?

 **End.**

 **The weird punctuation was supposed to indicate that Natalya was panicking.**


	13. Blizzard

Chapter 13

Blizzard

There was a place commonly used by magic users to settle disputes. The concrete floor, bound by a single broken fence, looked uninviting, damaged and scorched as it was. There was a feeling of repulsiveness around the place, invoked by the magic of government officials to deter non magic citizens.

Arthur stepped in without qualms, cheerfully leaving Matthew, Lovino, Julchen, Cheyenne, and Francine just outside. Natalya was barely visible walking up from the other direction.

Soon, the two stood facing each other, Arthur languid in his posture and clearly believing he'd win, and Natalya standing perfectly straight.

Natasha had summoned a magical connection, and previously she and her sister had been talking, but now Natalya sliced a hand through the ghostly image of her elder siblings and abolished the connection. She quietly looked back at Arthur.

"Ready?" Arthur asked, out of courtesy.

Natalya nodded.

Arthur chanted swiftly, sending a spell that would beat down her wards until they were gone or Arthur gave the stop command. Natalya let it come, and soon Arthur aborted the spell because he realized the wards were draining his magic faster than usual.

"How?"

"I can infuse a spell with anti-magic, then you have to use your magic to fulfill the anti-magic before you touch the spell."

"That's why it took so much energy to get rid of your spells."

Natalya did not reply, except by yet another bolt of purple. It once again rippled over Arthur's body and disappeared.

Francine looked on in disdain. "No lightning flashes, and creatures that they summoned, and fire and ice?"

"Real magic doesn't work like that," Lovino huffed.

"Still!"

Arthur allowed his spell to go back to Natalya's wards. Natalya, meanwhile, shot purple bolts at his wards again and again. Natalya's spells seemed to have no effect, but Arthur's spell suddenly shattered Natalya's wards. Arthur didn't look drained at all, and was readying a spell when the air behind his opponent began to churn.

"There's your ice, Fran," Julchen whispered, as fat snowflakes materialized among frozen, piercing shards. Natalya raised her arms like a conductor and sent her storm forwards, toward Arthur, who threw up a glittering, bubble-like object around himself. The storm hammered the fragile bubble, and it eventually did pop. However, the storm seemed to be glancing off of Arthur's body-for now.

Arthur tried to chant a spell, but the blizzard was tossing him around. Julchen glanced over to Matthew, as snow was his forte.

"Does-"

An ice shard shot toward Matthew; it impaled itself in his hand.

"Matthew!"

Matthew didn't answer. He had fallen unconscious. Julchen carefully removed the ice from his palm, ripping a strip of fabric from her shirt and tying it around the wound.

"We've got to get out of here!" Lovino shouted, pulling Francine and Cheyenne to their feet and shooing them out. They ran a good distance away, and Lovino turned back to Julchen.

"We can't leave Matthew!" she cried.

"No shiz. Here." Lovino helped lift Matthew to where he was draped over Julchen's shoulder, and gave Julchen a hand as they struggled toward where Francine and Cheyenne were. Lovino got hit with a shard and cried out, but kept moving. As soon as they were safely behind a shed thing a little ways away, Lovino and Julchen settled Matthew on the ground. Lovino plucked an icy shard from his leg.

"I suppose I should be glad my magic is so weak."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have a lot of magic. Arthur is best in the country, Ice Boy's got a lot too, but I just got enough sparks to make the tomatoes healthy. Then, if you remove my magic like Natalya just did, it does nothing."

"I don't get it."

"So, you got some amount of electricity flowing through your body. Magic takes some of that and converts it into, uh, magic. Yeah. That means, you use magic, you use life force. You use a lot of life force, you can't sustain conscious life. I'll never get to that point."

"That must suck, having some power but not enough to do anything."

Lovino shrugged. "Grow damn good tomatoes."

Meanwhile, Arthur had got the storm under control to the point that he could chant a spell. The spell reached out toward Natalya, wrapping her in a ghostly netting.

"What did that do?"

"Prevent her from throwing another spell at Arthur."

"But the blizzard's still going."

"Arthur should be able to get it under control now."

Arthur was starting to look winded. The storm had tossed him around until he resembled an old doll. The blizzard's slowly weakening currents were holding Arthur up. He began to chant again. A net reached out to cover the storm, then dissipated.

"What did that do?" Cheyenne asked.

"I don't know," Lovino replied.

Natalya looked back at Arthur from where she was slowly filling the net around her with magic. The storm responded to Arthur now, it appeared.

"That's what it does," Francine whispered.

The net around Natalya burst. She grinned and commenced shooting spells at Arthur. Arthur responded by swirling the blizzard around him so it deflected all her attacks.

Julchen glanced back at Matthew to find him slowly regaining consciousness.

"Matthew!"

"The blizzard isn't Natalya's," he whispered in reply. "She's calling on a pure force."

"Shit!" Lovino exclaimed. He jumped up and took off running toward Arthur. While Arthur was concentrating on chanting another spell, he could see the blizzard breaking from its net. Lovino stopped a few feet away from the edge of the swirling storm.

"ARTHUR!"

Arthur turned his head, an inaudible exclamation leaving his lips.

"GET OUT! GET OUT OF THE BLIZZARD! IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Arthur looked out toward the blizzard. He appeared to be yelling something, but it was hard to tell- the blizzard was swirling faster around him by the second.

Lovino looked at the base.

"I'LL TRY TO MELT IT, YOU'VE GOT TO GET OUT!"

Lovino sank to his knees in front of the storm. He stretched his hand out, and the base of the storm began to turn soupy. A gap widened at the base. Arthur glanced at it helplessly. It wasn't wide enough to crawl through.

"Can you army crawl?" Lovino asked, weakly.

The answer was, Arthur couldn't. They all knew that, ever since that stupid army crawl competition in P. E. Arthur dropped to the ground anyway, and began dragging himself through the gap.

"Lovino can't hold on much longer," Cheyenne observed.

"Then come on!" Julchen shouted, and the three girls ran to Arthur. Francine and Cheyenne dragged him out, then pulled Lovino back. Frost had begun to collect on his hands, so Cheyenne started to rub warmth back into his fingers. Arthur stood up weakly, and the other three escaped back to where Matthew lay.

"Where's Julchen?" Arthur asked, panicked. He turned back to Natalya, to see that Julchen had pinned Natalya's hands behind her back. Natalya was struggling, but Julchen was stronger.

Arthur tripped forward, still incredibly weak. He had just enough magic for one more spell, so he cast nothing and instead hobbled over to Natalya and Julchen.

Neither girl saw him. Natalya was glaring at Julchen, her skin sparking with magic. Julchen was seemingly unaffected.

"Julchen?" Arthur called softly.

"Yeah."

"I can use the last of my magic to drain the last of her magic, but then I'll probably fall unconscious. How are the other four?"

"Matthew's waking up, Lovino is okay I think, Fran and Chey are fine."

"All right." Arthur began to chant again, and Natalya soon fell unconscious. Julchen laid her gently on the ground, then rushed over to catch Arthur. She rolled her eyes.

"What did that accomplish?"

"I have no idea," Francine replied, startling her. She was supporting Matthew, who was now conscious. Lovino wordlessly helped Julchen lift Arthur.

"What about Natalya?" Cheyenne asked.

"We take her, too," Lovino shrugged.

Time passed, people argued, and Lovino and Francine complained. Julchen was whisked away, checked for damage, and told she'd be dealt with at a later time- and after they'd gotten the full story from Natalya.

 **End.**

 **…Am I at least decent at action scenes?**


	14. Evil Doesn't Tend Gardens

Chapter 14

Evil doesn't tend gardens

Natalya woke up to find herself in a rather nice room. She didn't know what room she was in, but she assumed it belonged to one of the Bad Touch Trio or their boyfriends. Most likely one of the boyfriends, considering the amount of magic in the room.

She tried to access her magic, but found it blocked. Oh well, that was to be expected. She walked over to the door and turned the handle. To her surprise, it opened.

There was a piece of paper and a glass of water outside the door, obviously placed there for her. She drank the water gratefully. The paper was a map to a different room in the mansion.

Walking into the room where the paper led her, she was surprised to find Natasha occupying a chair. Arthur also held a position in a chair, Lovino occupied the ottoman and some cushions on the floor, and the Bad Touch Trio were stretched out on the couch. Matthew was balancing on the wide arm of the couch. Clearly there were not enough chairs to hold all these people.

"Tasha?" Natalya asked.

"She's awake!" Lovino announced unnecessarily. He was flopped over on the cushions with his feet on the ottoman, having taken up this position rather recently. He was restless.

"Sister, why are you here?"

"To get you back home, of course!"

"But why?" Natalya asked.

"You know why. You recently tried to harm Arthur."

It didn't quite register in Natalya's mind. There was a big battle against someone evil, but evil doesn't live in nice mansions and give people glasses of water.

"I- uh-"

Arthur ignored her stutterings and gestured to an open chair. "Sit down, Natalya."

She did, gratefully.

"Alistair?" Arthur called, once she was settled. "She's here!"

A man whom the Bad Touch Trio had met, briefly, walked into the room. He wasn't tall, but was fairly muscled and commanded a presence in the room. He looked a lot like the other Kirkland siblings, with the exception of Arthur. Francine was beginning to wonder if Arthur was adopted.

"Aye, she is..." Alistair replied.

"Can you take the spell off, please?"

"I could..."

Arthur glared at his older brother. Alistair relented, turning to Natalya and opening his hand. Natalya experienced a sensation like getting the wind knocked out of her, immediately followed with a release of the magic that had been stuck inside of her.

"Thank you," she muttered. Releasing her wasn't helping her image of Arthur. Evil doesn't release its prisoners.

"First of all," Julchen started, having been delegated to ask the question, "Why wasn't your magic affecting me?"

"I don't know."

"There you go, Arthur," Julchen shrugged.

"Why did you attack me?" Arthur asked, thinking back to Natalya's confusing announcement in the schoolyard. Something about-

"I thought you were going to attack my family."

-that.

"Why would you think that?" Matthew asked, again.

"And why didn't you call us?" Natasha interjected.

"She was talking to you before the battle," Francine pointed out.

"I- she didn't say anything about a battle. Natalya!"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"Why wouldn't I understand?"

"Because, there is something only I know..."

"Start from the very beginning."

.

"...she was so kind, helping you out and giving all of us another life after Gaia tried to kill you. I asked her what she wanted in return. She told me, a small bit of my magic. But she also frightened me with glimpses of the future.

"She said I would meet someone stronger than me magic-wise. She told me that I would have an issue with them, and all I could do was be careful not to repeat the same mistake.

"I didn't know what she meant. The wording was strange. All I could get out of it was that I had to prepare, but how? I could never be stronger.

"I learned how to harness the power of an ice magic reservoir. They appear, sometimes, in Russia and other snowy places. It's just wild energy, and it quickly creates a blizzard. But you can catch it. It constantly tries to escape, but with enough chanting, I got it under control."

"That was the blizzard," Arthur realized.

Matthew nodded. "That's why- that's why it wasn't your magic."

Natalya continued, "Next, I got a mirror. A future seeing mirror, so I could look for hints of your magic, what I would face, what I would do. It gave me random images sometimes. A school, people walking along the hall. A playground at five in the morning, where the ground was wet with dew. I didn't know why I saw those. I thought they didn't relate to me. I didn't realize I'd see that someday.

"Then it showed me three girls."

"Us," Francine assumed.

"Why us? We're nothing incredible," Cheyenne commented. "Well, we are, but that shouldn't be a reason to show up in your mirror."

Arthur interrupted, "They show _your_ future no matter what. The mirrors, I mean. So... Well, what did you do?"

"That was when she cursed you three," Natasha interrupted. "Right?"

"You sealed your fate," Lovino confirmed.

"Why?" Cheyenne asked.

"Because- because I was jealous of you. Your life. Your beauty. Your attitudes."

"There's nothing of me to be jealous of," Cheyenne shrugged.

"That's not tr-"

"Of course," Francine interrupted, "I can see where you'd be jealous of me."

"Shut up, Francine," Julchen hissed.

"When you broke the spell," Natalya continued, "I decided to go find you."

"I figured that you'd beat her, and she would simply return," Natasha explained. "I didn't realize about the blizzard. It sounds like you barely survived."

"But we did survive, so it's okay," Matthew said comfortingly.

"Last question," Arthur stated, glancing down at a paper in his hand. Lovino flipped back upright and held up a hand.

"What, Lovino?"

Lovino glanced at the paper and back at Arthur.

Arthur raised an eyebrow, crumpled the paper, and threw it at Lovino.

"Last question," Lovino repeated, "Why did- hey, you already asked this!"

"No I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

Julchen reached over and snatched the paper. "Why did you think we were going to hurt your family?"

"Because that's what I knew from experience."

"I can get this sorted out," Natasha offered. "Come on, Natali, let's go home."

Natasha lifted her sister up, and Natalya gripped an invisible ladder and started to climb. Natasha followed her sister.

"And... the spells, the magic, everything that's affected us from, what. Sixth grade? is gone. It's all over," Julchen observed.

"She was scared," Cheyenne announced. "Fear, and then her jealousy of us, she just..."

"Emotions are effing weird," Lovino decided.

"But we're not done!" Arthur called, as they turned to leave. "Julchen, there's something weird going on..."

 **End.**

 **But not the end of the story. What is wrong with Julchen?**


	15. Magical Girl

Chapter 15

Magical Girl

"I don't have magic."

"Why not, Julchen?"

"Surely I would have noticed it?"

.

The six were, once again, collected in Arthur's house. This time, they were in his room. There were a surprising amount of Doctor Who items in the room, interspersed with Sherlock themed and other merchandise. There was also a brilliant red and gold Gryffindor banner occupying a good portion of one wall.

"This is actually a bit ridiculous," Francine commented, running her fingers along the TARDIS bookends.

"Shut up."

Cheyenne looked at Lovino, waiting for a comment on the decorations, but Lovino shrugged. "I got a Slytherin one in my room," he admitted, pointing at the banner.

.

"Are you done with the comments on my room?" Arthur asked, thoroughly annoyed. "Let's just run the spell on Julchen and see what we get."

So they did.

"Oh maple," Matthew whispered. "Julchen, are you sure you aren't magical? Because this spell is sure you are."

Julchen laughed. "Watch me, like, say no and then shoot out some magic and blow up Arthur's wall."

"It could be a different category of magic," Lovino shrugged.

The other two stared at him.

"What? I decided to believe your category shiz!"

"I hate you, Lovino," Arthur announced.

"The feeling is mutual, Chants Bastard."

"That's a new one, Elf of the Plants."

"What the HELL is that name!?"

"Boys!" Francine yelled.

"Right," Arthur said, turning back to her. "Julchen, you have magic."

"Yeah, okay."

"Has anything at all weird ever happened to you?" Matthew asked. "Anything possibly magical?"

Julchen thought for a while. "Well, two times in fourth grade there was this cough. Everyone was getting the cough, and it was contagious, and it was awful. But I stayed perfectly healthy, both times, even though I would show up at school and it would literally be the sub and me in the class."

"All right, magical cough, sounds legit," Lovino said.

"So your magic seems to be avoiding spells," Arthur observed.

"Maybe I have Natalya's anti-magic whatever. Because, everyone had heard of my name even when they were under the memory spell. And some spells can't even affect me."

"Anti-magic?" Arthur asked. "Why not. Are there tests we can do for that?"

Matthew thought for a while. Arthur muttered to himself.

" F***ing. Look. It. Up," Lovino suggested kindly.

"You shouldn't curse," Cheyenne admonished. The six of them opened the book and leafed through the pages.

"Here!" Matthew exclaimed, prodding the page where the word Anti-magic formed a subtitle. Matthew began to read it out.

"Anti-magic is not bad magic. It can coexist with normal magic inside one being, so that the entity can call on the anti magic or the normal magic, and sometimes both. Anti magic cancels magic, and while a magic canceling energy like a shield can as well, it spends more energy than the energy it is blocking. Anti magic cancels unit for unit. So far, it has been discovered that anti magic can be infused into a spell, but cannot form a spell itself."

"So there you go," Francine concluded. "You just get to not be hit by spells."

"Some spells get through," Julchen reminded her.

"Maybe you could, like, train your magic though," Francine suggested. "Then you could be invincible."

"That'd be so cool!" Cheyenne interjected.

Julchen shrugged. "I plan to ignore it."

"Huh?"

"Considering the fact that I lived the first sixteen years of my life that way."

"Sounds fine," Arthur shrugged.

"So how much magic do I have in me?"

"A lot," Arthur replied.

"A lot? Wow. Extremely descriptive."

"More than me and less than Arthur," Lovino contributed, mostly to be contrary.

Julchen rolled her eyes and looked at Matthew.

"If we took away all that magic, you'd be out for about five days. That's like the same as me."

"And your magic is strong."

Matthew nodded.

"So," Lovino interrupted. "That all? If it is, I'm outta here."

"Bye," Arthur answered.

Cheyenne bounded up and gave him a kiss. Lovino walked away.

"Seeya tomorrow, Matthew, Francie, Chey, Arthur," Julchen said, kissing her own boyfriend and walking away. Cheyenne and Matthew followed.

"Bye."

 **End.**

 **…Anticlimactic, in my opinion.**

 **A single wrap-up chapter left.**


	16. The End

Chapter 16

The end

"It's nice when things turn out okay," Cheyenne said, sliding into place at the table.

"This whole shebang is over," Julchen stated again, "What are you going to do with yourself?"

Chey shrugged. "Soccer."

"What can you say? Chey loves her soccer," Francine shrugged. "Personally, I'm glad I met Arthur because of this."

"So true!" Julchen agreed. "I'm so totally glad I met you, Birdie!"

"You too."

They sat, eating their lunches, in silence for a while. Over at a table nearby, a few boys were talking about a new ice cream flavor at the nearby ice cream parlor.

"Hey," Francine proposed, "How about getting some ice cream after school!"

"Sure!"

+break+

"Isn't it weird to be doing something so normal together?" Julchen asked. "No magic, no spells, just ice cream."

Francine laughed. "Too true. We have to do more stuff like this."

"We should go to the movies!" Cheyenne suggested.

"There's a new theatre opening on Alis Ave," Arthur pointed out.

"And a great new movie called "Child of Wonder" coming out," Matthew added. "At least, it's supposed to be great."

"We're there," Francine decided. "As soon as both options open."

+break+

At the theatre, Francine sat sprawled across her seat and Arthur's lap. Arthur cradled her head so it didn't hit the chair, and smiled.

His phone lit up silently. Arthur glanced at it.

From: Alistair: Where are you? With your girlfriend?

From: IHackedUrPhone (Will): Artie's got a girllllllllllllllll!

From: IHackedUrPhone (Will): Be safe. ;)

From: IHackedUrPhone (Will): She's pretty. She's out of your league- I mean, you're perfect together!

Arthur hastily typed a reply to William.

From: Me: expect a curse you arse

From: IHackedUrPhone (Will): Sorry. I was joking. I swear.

Francine gasped, and Arthur turned to see whatever action was on the screen.

Over at the Kirkland mansion, William renewed his wards, because Artie wasn't kidding. Oh well.

Julchen jumped and grabbed Matthew's hand on instinct as shots fired onscreen. Matthew slipped an arm around her. She relaxed into his hold.

Meanwhile, Lovino hissed, "Run, dammit girl, they're coming down the hall!"

"She's gonna live! She has to!" Cheyenne replied.

Julchen would have chuckled if she wasn't also staring intently at the screen.

.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" Julchen exclaimed the minute they stepped out of the theatre.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" Francine agreed.

They babbled about their favorite parts of the movie as they exited the building. Arthur was going to drive Francine, Matthew and Julchen home, with the car he had begged from Alistair for one night. To Lovino's eternal shame and embarrassment, his grandfather was picking him and Cheyenne up. He prayed that Feliciano had decided not to tag along.

Grandfather Romulus drove up in a beat-up sky blue car, with Feliciano next to him in the front seat.

"Why did you come?" Lovino asked.

"Because," Feliciano replied.

"That's not a real answer, dumbass."

Lovino and Cheyenne said goodbye, then slid into the car. Arthur walked everyone else over to Alistair's car, and started to drive.

Arthur finally pulled into the driveway and handed the car keys to Alistair.

"Good night," Alistair said, shooing Arthur upstairs. Arthur thought that that was never truer.

.

On Thursday, William yawned and dragged himself out of bed. He glanced at the clock.

"OH SH*T!"

He raced out the door, not noticing the sharpie mustache gracing his face. Arthur might find it easy to cast sleep spells and the like, but nothing beats good, old-fashioned permanent marker.

.

"You little brat."

"What?" Arthur asked nonchalantly.

+break+

Natalya quietly walked into the classroom. It was her first day of school, not to infiltrate, but to learn.

She had argued with her older sister that she already knew the information they would be teaching her, to which Natasha replied that this would be a test of social skills and not learning. Although the rigorous high school learning experience wouldn't hurt.

Natasha had begged Ivan to change her sister's mind.

"Please! I already know all the information!"

"Aha! So if you don't get all A's, I will put magic restraints on you for a month," Ivan replied unsympathetically.

So now she sat in the hard plastic seat with two orders over her head and an annoyingly chirpy and bright girl next to her.

"What's your name? Mine's Michelle!"

Natalya sighed. "Natalya."

"Ooh, that's so pretty! Just like you."

Was that a compliment!?

Probably.

"Thank you."

"We're gonna be the best of friends, I just know."

Oh dear.

 **End, for real.**

 **Natalya got her just desserts.**

 **So, the story's over. Comments, questions, criticisms, even requests? I'll reply via PM to comments from users.**

 **~Em**


End file.
